Painting the Train

By William J. Karnowski

William J. Karnowski is a construction worker by day and poet by night. His spirit is married to the earth. He worked as a laborer, a mason tender, finisher, gandydancer, therapy aide, boat builder, ironworker, draftsman, and now owns a construction company with his brother Dave.

I thought to myself,
"Self, if the geese can go south,
then, why can't we?"
It never did take me
very long to make a
decision, especially if
it involved a motorcycle.

Bill has traveled the length of the Oregon Trail, the Santa Fe Trail, and to the Great Smokies and back in the sports car that he built. He built his house, makes his furniture, and writes poetry on his farm at Laclede, Kansas.

"I find it is satisfying to get my hands and brain involved in everything I do."

"Check it out. I twist a few tails along the way."

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 31, 2005
• ISBN: 9780595801237

William J. Karnowski

William J. Karnowski is a Flint Hills Kansas poet and the author of four books; Pushing the Chain, Painting the Train, Catching the Rain, and Dispensation published by iuniverse, and two chapbooks; The Hills of Laclede, and Hardtails and Highways. He has 90 poems published in the Topeka Capital Journal's Kansas Plus. He is published in the Midwest Quarterly, Kansas Voices, Kansas Authors Club journals, and online websites. William sponsors and judges the Karnowski Youth Poetry Contest for the Kansas Authors Club and is currently that organization's State President. Bill is a lifelong outdoorsman and enjoys traveling with his wife Sue. They have traveled throughout the USA and the Middle East. Bill and Sue enjoy tent camping and exploring the National Parks. They have three grown children; Kathy, Sandi, and Adam, and seven grandchildren; Andrew, William, Emma, Gracie, Ellianna, Darbi, and Kolton. His interests include building and riding motorcycles, building and flying his powered parachute, rifle marksmanship, and building and driving custom sports cars. Bill and Sue live at Laclede, Kansas on a 80 acre hay meadow in the middle of Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

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Copyright © 2005 by William J. Karnowski

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taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in

critical articles and reviews.

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Contents

I think at Laclede

Western Kansas

The Delusion of Existence

Whisper

The Railroad

The Connector

Painting the Train

Mother

Hills of Laclede

Eclipse

The Gandydancers

The Smell of Leather

Truth

One Hour

The Eye

Pete and Maybelle

Mother Nature

Smoky Mountains Tears

The Teardrop

Living Wonder

Jericho

Arrows

Today!

Apology to Eve

Wisdom

Chip Away

Open Letter to a Politician

The Question at Zoo

Touch

Remembering

Texas

Familiar Places

Bottles

Essential Journey

Open Letter to Parliament

Sunday in Acapulco

Center of Gravity

Queen and the Quarterback

Earth’s Final War

Once Upon a Time

Tiny

Daybreak Looking East

Pinyon View

The Teacher

First Steps

The Fight

Ice Cream

What If?

Riding on the Train

The Tall Grass

Drawn

Go Away

The Confidence of Icarus

He Came Back

Railroad Men

Thanks

Departure

Courage

May I?

Diamonds

He said,

The Pueblo of Leguna

Jim

Leaves

To Adam

Embers

Lip Prints

Silly Boy

The Red Carpet

Comfort is the Enemy

Vision

Hunger

Fingertips

Faces

Sailors,

Abba Eban

South of La Grange

There Watching

The Words

Colors

It is Okay

Hope

Introduction

Image313.PNG We human beings are interesting crea- tures. I believe that most of us have an inherent desire to leave some kind of mark of our having passed through life. We employ all kinds of methods to leave some- thing that is recognizable of ourselves. The artist leaves behind music, paintings, words, movies; and sometimes he leaves his mark as spray paint on railroad cars. This is my way of rattling the cans.

I think at Laclede

There is a burst

Of green

In early May

Like nowhere else

On Earth.

Here in tornado alley

The summer storms

Can be trembling

In the dark

Violent events.

Winters are

Like the Arctic,

Summers beyond the Tropic.

Twenty-five below to

One hundred fifteen.

There is no ocean

To moderate

The extremes of its seasonal

Beauty.

The people here are like the rest

Of the good people in America,

Kind, generous, hard working

People.

Because the air is so clear,

Perhaps, we get to see a little farther.

—May 21, 2003

Western Kansas

Blow,

Endless fields of golden grain,

A patchwork of the Kansas bounty.

Tall granaries that dot the plain are

Landmarks, pride of every county.

Know,

Each Sunday morning people stay

To tease the wit of every mind,

After they have come to pray

And help the souls that fall behind.

Grow,

These friendships of tomorrow

Built on generations of family ties,

Glued by work, welded by sorrow,

And clear of clouds like the western skies.

Go,

West to the center of human trust.

This is the heart of human kind.

Whenever the weather is discussed,

The knot is tightened on the bind.

—April 22, 2003

The Delusion of Existence

Cry out the lonely

For just a bit of human touch.