By Wallace Barker
I. Day Before Independence Day
Shuddered on the train from
Luzern to Brig sending
raw emails and biting
at the turgid air
green valleys and farm houses to
crooked mountains humped over
gray melt streams swelling
their banks thru Zermatt.
Cattle cars finally open
blinking in the cool air
my mind steaming my brow
the Matterhorn like a spike driven
into the neck of the sky.
We ate beef and pork at Walliserstube
then watched “Talented Mr. Ripley”
in our apartment.
II. Extraordinary Complication
A train station in Visp awaiting
the R90 to Genéve.
Green alps enclose the scene
assorted Swiss chocolates are dispersed.
I wore my blue socks today
touch of idiot whimsy.
We are here for such a short time!
Enraged then sad then sober then happy.
I spin the wheel.
I turn like a gear.
III. Wasserfall
At the waterfall within the cliff face
tourists in bright technical jackets
slip the crevice like little sailboats
dropping over the horizon.
Power of the crashing churn seemed
so wasteful nature is so profligate
felt scared I might jump into it.
We took the 141 tram to the
Coop Grocery I bought two
different kinds of Swiss cookies
felt guilty about happiness.
Brown slugs along the trail
back to our farmhouse
we were careful not to step on them.
We talked about visiting Gimmelwald
tomorrow if the weather cleared.
The views are supposed to be amazing.
I sat on the couch in our wooden
farmhouse and smelled dinner cooking.
I drank an alkoholfreier beer.
IV. Bildungsroman
Crowded train through countryside
luggage in my lap and pressed tight
against foreign strangers
pebble shore to ice blue lake
flashing past the windows
difference between romance and
realism is that romantics
never mention the bugs.
Stultifying crush of mass transit
much of travel consists of these
trains and transfers and luggage.
My son plays videogames on his phone.
He wears headphones and listens
to “rage rap” when I speak
to him he cannot hear and when
I touch his shoulder he shrugs me away.
V. Falling Faintly Through the Universe
Standing in the rain at Montreux
we paid CHF 80 to upgrade
our seats on the GoldenPass Express.
We saw a fox dart in the rain
birds nesting in the train car ventilation
I drank a Rugenbräu beer (alcohol free).
Only a few hours to Interlaken
Miles and Esmé on their phones
Alicia with her embroidery.
No one looks up
next stop, Schönried
then on to Zweisimmen.
Wallace Barker lives in Austin, Texas. His most recent book “Collected Poems 2009-2022” is available from Maximus Books. His debut poetry collection “La Serenissima” is available from Gob Pile Press. More of his work can be found at wallacebarker.com