ON THE TRAIN TO DEL MAR
by Charles Bukowski
I get on the train on the way to the track
it’s down near Dago
and this gives some space and rolling and
I have my pint
and I walk to the barcar for a couple of
beers
and I weave upon the floor–
THACK THACK THACKA THACK THATCK THACKA THACK–
and some of it comes back
a little of it comes back
like some green in a leaf after a long
dryness
and the sun crashes into the barcar like a
bull and the bartender sees that
I am feeling good
he smiles a real smile and
asks–
“How’s it going?”
how’s it going? my heels are down
my shoes cracked
I am wearing my father’s pants and he died
ten years ago
I need 8 teeth pulled
my intestine has a partial blockage
I puff on a dime cigar
“Great!” I answer him,
“how you making?”
glory glory glory and the train rolls on
past the sea
past the sand and
down in between the
cliffs.
SOURCE: “On the Train to Del Mar” appears in Charles Bukowski‘s collection The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills (Black Sparrow Press, (1969), available at Amazon.com.
IMAGE: “Amtrak Surfliner” by Traci Lehman. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.
Silver Birch Press 