![photograph of the side of a railway car with faded green paint. Across the top the paint is peeling, with a rusty hole dripping leaving a streak of rust running down the side.](https://i0.wp.com/joepallen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241209_jpallen_3524.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1)
![Echoes on the tracks/passing an abandoned car/winter rain shower](https://i0.wp.com/joepallen.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/20241211_jpallen_haiku-2.jpg?resize=1000%2C239&ssl=1)
Downtown Spokane, in the morning, I walk with the homeless as they move from their night places to their day places. We pass by the daycare window, the children eating breakfast wave. In the afternoon people are going to work, passing through, stopping by for a coffee or food at the cafe or groceries at the local market. Throughout the day, trains pass through making their usual sounds, the blowing whistles and the clicks and squeaks of the tracks. Their presence is felt in the air. The sidewalk and buildings vibrate as the trains pass through, some going east to west, some west to east.