Women's History Month: Thursday, March 18, 2021: Kathie Giorgio's poem "To the Woman Who Died on the Train Tracks"

 

                        To the Woman Who Died on the Train Tracks

On Sunday night, October 6,

you curl up like a new baby

in a cradle made of train tracks

in Waukesha Wisconsin.

You let a train carry away your life.

You are sixty years old.

The newspaper says you died instantly.

You didn’t. You’ve been dying for a while.

Five days later, on Friday, October 11,

police report they still haven’t found anyone

to notify.

No phone calls. No doorbells. No telegrams.

I’m so sorry, but <fill in the blank> has died.

<fill in the blank> killed herself.

<fill in the blank> is gone.

Gone.

Nobody knows you,

but many strangers wonder who you are.

Your silence and the silence around you

screams.

<fill in the blank>

You’ve been dying for a while.

Nobody knows you.

Such loud silence.

Such silent screams.

© 2021 Kathie Giorgio

Kathie Giorgio is the author of five novels, two story collections, a collection of essays, and two poetry chapbooks. No Matter Which Way You Look, There Is More To See is her first full-length poetry collection. She's been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in fiction and poetry and awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Library.