Box cars move succinctly
toward a different destination

Women and children accept
their manacled roots

Hey 71 degrees (celsius or farenheit?)--

Box cars move succinctly
toward a different destinations just a suggestion

Women and children accept
their manacled roots

Seems to describe slave trains separating families. ?
If that's the intended description, then is "accepted" the correct word?

I'll need to ponder this one a bit longer...
... Mark

Disclaimer: no training and limited experience.  Consider me "average Joe reader"

After a few readings I decided this poem was about hobos ... Locationaly challenged? (Don't worry it always takes me lots of readings I'm learning here).    My best guess is that there are either 76 train cars or 76 people hitching a ride. The women and children had to stay home, "shackled" by their weakness and responsibilities.  

However, my very first reading I thought that it was something like the trains taking people to concentration camps, or some form of slavery because of the manacles.  But since you said their "roots" are manacled and not their actual feet, it seems like you're saying they're left behind.  Hence the hobos.

As an untrained reader the "population 76" was the most confusing part.  And if it is about hobos, or slavery, I wish there was just one word somewhere to point us in one direction or another.

Finally, I don't care for the word "succinctly" I don't really know why, other than it seems out of place with the rest of the tone.

I wish I could be more helpful.  I love how you conjured a clear strong image in so few words.  I kind of hope it is about hobos because describing the helplessnes of the women and children the men let behind as though they are chained is a truth to which many stay at homes can relate.  In fact, no matter what this poem is about, I'm putting "manacled roots" in my pocket so that I finally have a word picture for that particular feeling.  

--Ammi

(07-21-2015, 07:32 AM)Quixilated Wrote:  Disclaimer: no training and limited experience.  Consider me "average Joe reader"

After a few readings I decided this poem was about hobos ...  Locationaly challenged?  (Don't worry it always takes me lots of readings I'm learning here).    My best guess is that there are either 76 train cars or 76 people hitching a ride. The women and children had to stay home, "shackled" by their weakness and responsibilities.  

However, my very first reading I thought that it was something like the trains taking people to concentration camps, or some form of slavery because of the manacles.  But since you said their "roots" are manacled and not their actual feet, it seems like you're saying they're left behind.  Hence the hobos.

As an untrained reader the "population 76" was the most confusing part.  And if it is about hobos, or slavery, I wish there was just one word somewhere to point us in one direction or another.

Finally, I don't care for the word "succinctly" I don't really know why, other than it seems out of place with the rest of the tone.

I wish I could be more helpful.  I love how you conjured a clear strong image in so few words.  I kind of hope it is about hobos because describing the helplessnes of the women and children the men let behind as though they are chained is a truth to which many stay at homes can relate.  In fact, no matter what this poem is about, I'm putting "manacled roots" in my pocket so that I finally have a word picture for that particular feeling.  

--Ammi

Ammi,  Sorry it's taken me so long to respond here.  Thank you for time and suggestions. "Population 76" refers to a small town's actual population. Where I live every city, every town has a census sign as one enters.  It's a statement about how some folks just can't leave a situation, even if they want to leave. Perhaps not as grim as you first thought (concentration camps) but a sad one nonetheless.

Thank you for explaining, the title makes so much more sense in that context. In fact the title sort of works like the key to unlocking the rest of the poem. It's been so long since I've studied poetry that I have forgotten all these hundreds of little things to look for when reading. I still like it, knowing the true meaning. One question, where are the men? They weren't tethered with the women and children and that is what made me assume they were on on the trains. Just curious, I like the picture this paints and I have the moms and babies standing in the doorway but don't know where to put the dads.
--Quix

(07-26-2015, 12:57 PM)Quixilated Wrote:  Thank you for explaining, the title makes so much more sense in that context.  In fact the title sort of works like the key to unlocking the rest of the poem.  It's been so long since I've studied poetry that I have forgotten all these hundreds of little things to look for when reading.  I still like it, knowing the true meaning.   One question, where are the men?  They weren't tethered with the women and children and that is what made me assume they were on on the trains.  Just curious,  I like the picture this paints and I have the moms and babies standing in the doorway but don't know where to put the dads.  
--Quix

Quix, Aside from the uncountable one parent families out there for whatever reasons, I grew up in a railroad town. Many of the men had jobs where they laid over for a few days. They had fun. Many of them lived an almost separate existence. The women and children back home never had an opportunity to go anywhere. I like minimalistic poems...hard to capture all this in 15 words. If the poem took you somewhere else, I'm good w/that. Thanks for your interest here.