by Désirée Jung
Patron Saint of Trains
As children we crossed back and forth across stitched tracks
surrounding our neighborhood like a warm quilt. Days spent
on bottle hunts to cash in for nickels, returning home with
brown bags of candy, unaware which side of the tracks is wrong.
The summer before high school, we crossed several tracks
to get to the interview at the private all-girls academy.
Mother Superior sat behind her desk, arms folded, hands tucked
tightly under habit sleeves. Approving the grant, she hoped I knew
how blessed I was to spend Saturdays answering the convent phones,
foregoing elective classes to work in the school office, signing in
each late doctor’s daughter, made aware which side of the tracks is mine.
Our backyard magnolia tree lifts me to the roof of our one-story
home where I watch engines head westward, imagine their train
songs are a litany for my prayers, me their patron saint.
Poet and Printmaker, Tammy Greenwood is a Louisiana native residing in California. Her work is heavily influenced by the varying landscape and culture of both states she calls home. Since graduating from California State University, San Bernardino, she continues her studies while working on her upcoming book of poetry. Her work appears in or is forthcoming in Door is a Jar, Rust & Moth, Orange Blossom Review, San Pedro River Review, Under the Radar, California Quarterly, Poetry South, Emerge Literary Journal, and elsewhere. She can be found on Twitter @tc_greenwood and Instagram @tgreenwoodart
Désirée Jung is an artist from Vancouver, Canada. She has published translations, poetry, and fiction in several magazines around the world, taking part in many artists residencies. Her series of video poems were screened in various film festivals and won several prizes. Her nonfiction story “Dispatches from the Womb” was nominated for a 2023 Pushcart Prize. For more information, please check her website: www.desireejung.com.