Railroad trains are fascist.
Locomotives have no steering wheel.
The train’s direction is determined
by the one who laid the track,
from despot to depot.
No swerving. Nonconformity forbidden.
The wheels constricted to roll straight,
no deviation from the stated norm.
The rails keep citizens from going off track.
The train goes where the tracks go
and the tracks go where the despot
wants people to go:
-sometimes as passengers,
-sometimes as freight.
Wooden railroad ties tie steel rails together
preventing derailment, while keeping rails
the standard 4 feet, 8.5 inches apart, the width
of chariot grooves worn into ancient stone roads,
a route of Roman ruts.
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*Latin ‘fascia’
anatomy: fibrous connective tissue binding muscle groups into bundles and holding the internal organs securely in place.
politics: on the political spectrum, a far right view that glorifies a country’s past and enforces
national unity through a central despotic ruler, the suppression of dissent, and the use of repressive police force to maintain power.
Fasces: a symbolic bundle of sticks tied around a protruding axe head representing the emperor’s power over life and death in ancient Rome.
This symbol was used by the Italian Fascists under the dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945).