RIDING ON THE BIG OF ALASKA - Poem

 Riding on the Big O of Alaska,

(copyright 2020, by Dave Kiffer)

(with apologies to Steve Goodman)


Clarence Strait Central, Monday morning rail
Got fifteen cars, plugged full of curios,
And an old club car chocked full of Alaskan Ale
All along the Southeast Odyssey
The train pulls out for Tenakee
Rolling past the cabins, docks and eagles
Passin' boats that have no names
The bars are full of tired old men
It's a graveyard of rusted Jimmy Diesels
So good morning, Tongassland, how are you?
I said don't know you know me, I'm your favored son
I'm the train they call, the Big O of Alaska
And I'll be gone cross Behm Canal when the day is done
Swapping tales with the old men in the club car
Fish long caught grow bigger every mile
The weatherman says it's just gonna get wetter
It's enough to make a steelhead stop and smile
And the sons of all the sourdoughs
And the daughters of the pioneers
Ride the 21st century rails across the streams
They can get on in cold rainforest
And then get off in the Pacific Northwest
And latch themselves to the Great American Dreams.
And good morning, Tongassland, how are you?
I said don't you know me, I'm your favorite son,
I' m the train they call, the Big O of Alaska
And I'll be gone cross Behm Canal when the day is done.

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