Vox Populi
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Richard Hoffman: If You See Something, Say Something
AMTRAK Acela
Sunlight on water flashed and dazzled and
blurred green trees and hedges and graffitied
walls too fast to read and by the window I
was happy as a dog eyes closed tongue out
nose in the air on a highway most of the time.
I like complaining but afterward I feel ashamed
as if I met a man who had no feet from a bomb
my country sold his enemy for export rights to
this season’s coolest sneakers. I am American
and that shit happens. What does it matter
if I don’t like the stink of the meatball sandwich
my seatmate eats, leaning over the greasy wrapper?
This train carries only gamblers: we could be
the last of us that any of us see. Across the aisle
a woman shouts into her phone about her meds.
The engine can go faster but not on these tracks.
~~
Mornings
Already up, my mother,
cup of coffee in her hand,
would call to me and I’d
half smile in my half sleep,
loving her smoky voice,
her loving exasperation,
her stomping upstairs
to grab my ankle, yank
me, waking, playing along,
onto the dusty rag rug
of whatever was to be,
of whatever was to come.
~~~~
Copyright 2025 Richard Hoffman
RICHARD HOFFMAN is a poet, memoirist and fiction writer. His books include Remembering the Alchemists and other essays.
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Wonderful poetry! I’m late in commenting, frying to get another 25 acres planted before the dew dried, but the whole Richard Hoffman “Anthology” rewards reading! These are incisive powerful poems by a fabulous poet!
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Richard really is fabulous, isn’t he?
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Can identify – with Mum and the train. And : “[…] I / was happy as a dog / yes closed tongue out / nose in the air on a highway most of the time.” I remember those moments too.
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Oh, yes.
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These are beautiful and moving poems, Richard. Thank you!
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Both these poems attach all sorts of hooks for readers to hang their own inspirations on. Thanks for the “free” ride on Amtrak, and a wake up call with coffee from your Mom.
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Love both of these. They feel so different yet address being human so well.
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They really do…
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Hoffman’s language is so precise, each phrase exactly right.
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