By the rail tracks in South Austin
Just down from Twin Oaks Library and THRICE Cafe
among the PRIVATE PROPERTY signs and stacked canoes
hobos sing their Great Expression
Jimmie Rodgers of the Great Depression was a brakeman
whose yodeling cheerfulness kept the blues @bay
until other songs and singers became Woody Guthries of their day
Every singular original singer-songwriter is a warm fire on a cool star night
hollering when that Union Pacific rattles and horns its way along freight tracks
that carry no passengers,not even hitch hiking hobos
Train travel is AMTRAK and slow.It used to be
"HOP ON BOARD-HERE COMES AN EMPTY!"
chased by railroad detectives ,beaten by local police
a hobos life is now a legendary one,in this Endless Recession
we find no new songs for.So train songs are tracked,sung to..
every voice/ becomes attuned-an instrument of personal freedom
A promise to the cool night winter that human warmth survives,thrives
and will keep alive both Snake Island and Hobo Camp
as long as there is a song upon the wind that we are singing...
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