The prompt for Day 4 of the #introtopoetry course from WordPress is Journey and the suggested device is simile.
I have written a narrative verse of seven four-line stanzas. I only managed to drag in one simile. I tried at least one other, but it was a cliché. I didn’t use it.
I do not usually write such a long poem, but this is the story of a journey I made recently. I am posting it later in the day than the shorter poems, which I have written for the challenge so far, because it has taken much longer to write!
A train
A Tale of Two Trains
The slow train with salt- and mud-
Besmirched windows gives views
Of sea and fields, distant hills,
Stations in places with predictable news.
Passengers talk as loudly
As auctioneers selling sheep.
I’d like them to be quiet.
I tell myself my ticket was very cheap.
While I wait for the next train,
I buy myself some lunch
And go to the waiting room,
Where others with their sandwiches sit and munch.
The express train arrives on time.
My seat has a reserved
Ticket. I drink tea bought
From the trolley – a treat I may have deserved.
This train stops in busy towns,
Where people are leaving
For sunny destinations.
More passengers arrive – the stations are heaving.
Have you guessed where I’m going?
I alight at the airport,
But have not booked a flight.
I leave the station- it’s not what you thought.
A car draws up outside.
My journey is to visit
Members of my family,
Who expect me – not such a surprise, is it?
Sue' s considered trifles 