Train’s a Comin’

Jesse Doiron

July 5, 2026

If Kerl and Doris hadn’t lived next door,

the railroad tracks woulda been our neighbor—

not any louder than already was.

Quarter-hour midnight, it’d start to knock

the screen porch and rattle the kitchen crock.

Drunk old fool wantin’ more like always does

after evenin’ shift—try and get a fuck.

His woman had a way of bustin’ luck,

riled him up laughin’ at him just becuz.

You’d hear the diesel screamin’ long and low—

two of ‘em a hollerin’—one last blow.

“Goddammit!” louder than already was.           

Jesse Doiron has worked in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia as an educator and consultant. His teaching experience ranges from English for international business at the UC – Berkeley Extension in San Francisco to creative writing at the Mark Stiles Maximum Security Prison for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.