Derailed
My life had derailed.74 total reviews
Comment from nancy_e_davis
Well done my friend. That had to be a horrible experience. This is a wonderful story in a poem. One of those terrible experiences that tend to haunt you for your entire life. All the more so for a child. Well done. :) Nancy
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Well done my friend. That had to be a horrible experience. This is a wonderful story in a poem. One of those terrible experiences that tend to haunt you for your entire life. All the more so for a child. Well done. :) Nancy
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Yes, Nancy, this terrible experience happened half a century ago and it still haunts me. Thank you for your review.
Comment from Ulla
First of all, It is good to see you back Andre. I hope you'll stay a while, this time round. I've missed your writing.
Wow, that derailing has left an indelible mark in your memory. It must have been a terrifying experience for a four year old. So confusing and the feeling of real danger in the middle of the night. Good luck with your free verse poem. All the best. Ulla:))
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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First of all, It is good to see you back Andre. I hope you'll stay a while, this time round. I've missed your writing.
Wow, that derailing has left an indelible mark in your memory. It must have been a terrifying experience for a four year old. So confusing and the feeling of real danger in the middle of the night. Good luck with your free verse poem. All the best. Ulla:))
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Yes, Ulla, this derailment happened half a century ago, so long that I thought I had been dreaming or made it up, but then I found the newspaper articles that confirmed that the chemical train derailment happened.
Thank you for your review and for wishing me good luck in the free verse poetry contest. It's good to be back.
Comment from Artasylum
What a horrifying situation for a child to process or as you said not be able to process... This story captured me especially because it was your story... Great read and always look forward to more. yours, diana
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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What a horrifying situation for a child to process or as you said not be able to process... This story captured me especially because it was your story... Great read and always look forward to more. yours, diana
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Thank you, Diana, for your review. I struggled to tell my story after fifty years. Yes, I could not process it at the time. It was just too much and I cried during the entire evacuation.
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Hi Sis Cat... your story touched me... hopefully the crying brought you closer to that side of your life and took away some of the trauma... Crying through a piece I'm writing is cathartic and still a small piece will break off and come to visit me again. Knowing you were holding on to that for so long makes me sad... Again, thank you for sharing YOU! I love when people have the courage to do that. Yours, diana
Comment from krys123
Cheers, Andre';
>Fascinating story and I really got involved with the May 4, 1968 Northbridge California derailment. I looked it up to read further and I was amazed at the travesty of errors that caused the derailment.
> Especially the people had to evacuate, what a mess and horrified people.
> On top of that your alienation with your father made it all more intense
>I could see were that could haunt someone for their lives especially if it happened when they were a child.
> Very real-life sentiment and innocent reality usually portrayed in this writing.
> Thanks for sharing, Andre, and take care and have a good one and if you all got time in your hectic life to give me a call, please do. I like to catch up on things.
Cheers and adulations
Alx
PS: take care and have a good one especially with all those that love you dearly.
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Cheers, Andre';
>Fascinating story and I really got involved with the May 4, 1968 Northbridge California derailment. I looked it up to read further and I was amazed at the travesty of errors that caused the derailment.
> Especially the people had to evacuate, what a mess and horrified people.
> On top of that your alienation with your father made it all more intense
>I could see were that could haunt someone for their lives especially if it happened when they were a child.
> Very real-life sentiment and innocent reality usually portrayed in this writing.
> Thanks for sharing, Andre, and take care and have a good one and if you all got time in your hectic life to give me a call, please do. I like to catch up on things.
Cheers and adulations
Alx
PS: take care and have a good one especially with all those that love you dearly.
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Thank you, Alex, for your heartfelt, six star review. Two travesties involving the derailment were that investigators downplayed eyewitness reports that they saw four boys fleeing the scene. No arrests were made even though five years earlier at a 1963 passenger train derailment along the same track, the police issued a $1,000 award and used fingerprints to arrest the teens who caused that derailment. The second travesty is that the press did not cover the mass evacuation from the 1968 derailment. One reviewer lived nearby in Woodland Hills at the time and remembered the evacuation. When I read other papers from the 1960s, they gave much coverage to chemical train derailments, but in the Northridge incident, the news was stifled.
I just got back from an aunt's ninetieth birthday party in Bakersfield where I spent every spare moment listening to the music around there. I'm jazzed, and returned home to increase my guitar practice so I could perform in Bakersfield next year. I will keep you posted.
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Sounds great, Andre' . You must try some silk and steel guitar strings/ and makes it very easy on your hands to play and they sound great the only thing wrong with them is that they don't last as long as regulars metal guitar strings. The string for me lasted about six months but I play every day.
Good luck in your endeavors my dear friend and God bless you and all your family and friends
;.~)
Alx
Comment from victor 66
I wonder how many other people had tragedies that had occurred near the assignation of these two great men? Much like you, my grandmother would say "Bad things happen in 3s". A childhood friend went missing. We had been teenagers at this time and it was discovered that the this sweet seventeen-year- old girl had been brutally murdered by her high school boyfriend because he had gotten her pregnant and he was embarrassed. We get older but, somethings do not get easier. I wish you well.
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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I wonder how many other people had tragedies that had occurred near the assignation of these two great men? Much like you, my grandmother would say "Bad things happen in 3s". A childhood friend went missing. We had been teenagers at this time and it was discovered that the this sweet seventeen-year- old girl had been brutally murdered by her high school boyfriend because he had gotten her pregnant and he was embarrassed. We get older but, somethings do not get easier. I wish you well.
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Thank you, Victor, for your heartfelt review. I wish you well, too. I asked my older brother about the derailment, but our parents' divorce at the same time was so horrendous that he does not remember the derailment, only the divorce. I was too young to remember the marriage but old enough to remember the derailment as one of my earliest memories.
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Boy, life does hand a kid some rough times. But, some how we make it through. Take care, Andre.
Comment from Kerry Foley Robinson
Hello there, Andre, it'd so nice to see you:)) This is a fantastic free verse poem. Wow, what frightening story, that had to be scary as a young boy. Thank God, you made it out of there. Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece. ~Kerry
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Hello there, Andre, it'd so nice to see you:)) This is a fantastic free verse poem. Wow, what frightening story, that had to be scary as a young boy. Thank God, you made it out of there. Thanks for sharing this wonderful piece. ~Kerry
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Thank you, Kerry, for your generous, six star review and encouraging words. I'm glad I made it out of there, too.
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You're very welcome, Andre. Sorry for the late reply:) Enjoy your weekend.
Comment from Boogienights
What a terrible and frightening memory to have. It's interesting what we remember from our childhood. What you experienced sounds traumatic, as I expect it would but I also have a memory that sounds dumb now but was also very scary for me. My sister took a fake bloody hand and pushed it out from under my bed! That small incident affected me for years...I would insist on lining pillows against my bed next to the wall, to keep the "hand" from getting me. Thank you for sharing your memory with us.
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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What a terrible and frightening memory to have. It's interesting what we remember from our childhood. What you experienced sounds traumatic, as I expect it would but I also have a memory that sounds dumb now but was also very scary for me. My sister took a fake bloody hand and pushed it out from under my bed! That small incident affected me for years...I would insist on lining pillows against my bed next to the wall, to keep the "hand" from getting me. Thank you for sharing your memory with us.
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Yes, Boogienights, I do not know how or why memories work. I asked my older brother about the derailment, but our parents' divorce at the same time was so horrendous that he does not remember the derailment, only the divorce. I was too young to remember the marriage but old enough to remember the derailment as one of my earliest memories. Thank you for your review and for sharing your fake bloody hand story.
Comment from Jannypan (Jan)
You did a good job with your free verse. Readers are immediately drawn to the events in history. However, the way you wove your own history into the time and related it is super. Those events, like the one in your life to you, are forever in our minds. Thanks for sharing. Jan
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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You did a good job with your free verse. Readers are immediately drawn to the events in history. However, the way you wove your own history into the time and related it is super. Those events, like the one in your life to you, are forever in our minds. Thanks for sharing. Jan
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Yes, Jan, my fourth birthday and the derailment was smack dab in the middle of the King/Kennedy assassinations. Weaving this history with my own is "super," as you said. Thank you for your review.
Comment from Ann Marie Anglin
Disturbing memories. How well you describe your feelings of confusion and fear of the unknown. I remember during this time period having nightmares of nuclear attacks that I was unable to articulate because I was very young. But they stayed with me my entire life, and I remember them still. I love your metaphor of the sirens wailing with your own crying, your loss and fear. Beautifully done! All the best, Ann Marie
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Disturbing memories. How well you describe your feelings of confusion and fear of the unknown. I remember during this time period having nightmares of nuclear attacks that I was unable to articulate because I was very young. But they stayed with me my entire life, and I remember them still. I love your metaphor of the sirens wailing with your own crying, your loss and fear. Beautifully done! All the best, Ann Marie
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Yes, Ann Marie, a disturbing memory. I'm embarrassed that I cried during the entire evacuation but I used this detail as a metaphor for trains and sirens wailing. Thank you for your review.
Comment from Air Spirit
An excellent poem/story. I remember this event... I lived in Woodland Hills when it happened... it was horrific, and even though this was an event that happened before I really watched much of the news, I remember hearing people talk about it... you described it so well... I felt as if I were there... the pained sights, sounds, colors, fire engines, ambulances, and people wailed throughout the night... "...a burnt match smell;
red and blue lights flashed;
neighbors shouted;
car doors slammed--..." is painfully vivid... and I loved your depiction of how you felt as a child... I can only imagine the terror you felt...
Thank you for sharing a part of this memory with me, and for taking me on your journey...
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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An excellent poem/story. I remember this event... I lived in Woodland Hills when it happened... it was horrific, and even though this was an event that happened before I really watched much of the news, I remember hearing people talk about it... you described it so well... I felt as if I were there... the pained sights, sounds, colors, fire engines, ambulances, and people wailed throughout the night... "...a burnt match smell;
red and blue lights flashed;
neighbors shouted;
car doors slammed--..." is painfully vivid... and I loved your depiction of how you felt as a child... I can only imagine the terror you felt...
Thank you for sharing a part of this memory with me, and for taking me on your journey...
Comment Written 10-Sep-2018
reply by the author on 10-Sep-2018
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Oh, thank you, Air Spirit, not only for your review, but for confirming the event from your Woodland Hills vantage point. I had this horrible childhood memory of a mass evacuation caused by a train derailment, but when I looked up the Valley News, it only described the fumes as spreading to three blocks. I lived a mile away, and for years I wondered if I dreamed or made up this memory that the evacuation reached my area. Thanks for confirming my worst nightmare happened.
