Vox Populi
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Michael Simms: Jesus
Sixteen and running From my father’s fists I once tried to jump on a moving train It happened on the outskirts Of evening Outside Houston And a guy Who said his name Was Jesus Came out of the cane fields And started walking beside me Which scared me A little because he looked hungry Not mean just Hungry but I’d read my Steinbeck And knew the code of the rails No man can deny another man The right to move Which would’ve been fine If I’d been a man instead Of a scared boy Who didn’t know He didn’t know and here was A real hobo Named Jesus who asked me Where I was going which was Nowhere so I said North sounding like I meant it And asked where he Was going No perticlar place he said And shrugged and asked Where I was from which was Somewhere so I pointed My chin South And said Bout seven mile that way Because that’s how real hobos Talk and he looked South And said sadly If I lived that close I’d go home and I knew I’d never felt sadness The way a real hobo feels sadness And then we heard A train coming Behind us and we moved over And waited and started running And when the freight cars Came by Jesus Grabbed the ladder on the back Of a car and swung Himself up and I missed And fell In the gravel and Lay there Watching the caboose grow smaller And smaller in the twilight
Copyright 2021 Michael Simms. From Nightjar by Michael Simms (Ragged Sky, 2021).
Michael Simms is the editor of Vox Populi. He was born and raised in Houston and currently lives in Pittsburgh.
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Appreciate this colorful story for many reasons. And I love the stories of hobos during the Depression, who were distinguished from “tramps” and “bums” by their eagerness to work. People used to put hobo-friendly markings on their houses so they would know where it was safe to knock on a door upon arrival in a town (by train, of course!) Do you know the song “Hobo’s Meditation” by Jimmie Rodgers, later featured on the Parton/Harris/Ronstadt album “Trio”?
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Oh, yes, Jimmie Rogers was great! Thanks for this memory.
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Oh Jesus Michael, this made me cry the day after Christmas. I understand.
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Thank you, Allison!
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LOVE this poem!!
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Thanks, Leonore! Happy holiday!
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Love this one. Thank you
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Thanks, Barbara! Happy holidays to you and yours!
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Good poem, Michael. Merry post christmas Rick
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Thanks, Rick. According to my wife Eva who is German, Christmas lasts 10 days. Today is the second day of Christmas. Happy second day!
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