The Burlington Northern, Southbound

In “The Burlington Northern, Southbound” by Bruce Holland Rogers, the narrator writes a poem to the object of his affection, a girl named Christine, comparing her to the train. He assumes that Christine rejected him, because she never told him how she felt about it. So if she had liked it, wouldn’t she have said something? He kicks himself, saying, “What woman wants to hear she is like the Burlington Northern southbound?"

The narrator seems like a stalker, because he knows stuff without asking her herself. He knows “her name was Christine,” so he obviously took the time to get to know stuff about her, even if he couldn’t ask her himself. It shows how much interest he has in her, which Christine could have taken as a good or bad sign.

When the narrator tells Christine in his poem, “about the way he used to stand in the dazzle of the headlight,” he obviously likes her looks and thinks Christine’s beauty blows him away and he wonders how someone like her was invented. His poem to her could be all about her physical appearance and how much he wants to have sex with her, with lines like, “I want to ride you home Christine and beyond,” but it was his intention to tell her how the train excites him as a rider, and she excited him as a woman.

When the narrator writes “I want to ride you into mornings sharp and cold and blue and never run the same track twice,” it indicates how he saw her as a new adventure and how much he is inspired to take risks into getting to know her. He is wondering what’s under the hood of the train, when he compares her to the engine: “Between the quaking of the cinders, and his jog, the engine would almost bring him to his knees.” Even though he has seen her beauty on the outside, he is wondering if her personality is also wonderful.

“When he could stop at last he’d hear the blood rushing in his ears for a long time while he felt the train rush on recede, and he’d watch the stars wheel awhile and when he walked home there’d be a ringing in his ears but gently”: the narrator promises she makes him happy every time he sees her and misses her until the next time he sees her.

When the narrator admits he “liked to step aside and stand on the edge to feel the thunder in his bones,” and “he’d feel the night air in his hair,” he wishes he could let go of his inhibitions, and let Christine’s spirit take control of him. He is a shy person, because he would rather write her letter than actually talk to her. It would have been better for him to actually talk to her, getting to know her for herself and not just be in love of the idea of her.

The narrator finds the idea of being with Christine exciting, when he writes, “the diesel throb in his gut would ebb until it was only sound, and then cars- some shrieking on their spring- would clataclat clatalat on by.” When the narrator writes, “He would dream for a moment of hanging on, of riding the coupling platform through the night,” Christine could have taken that as he wants to hold her in his arms and not let her go.

The theme of this story is to take risks, even thought it doesn’t always pay off the way people want it to. Was writing a poem comparing her to a train stupid or brave thing for him to do, even though he didn’t get the outcome he wanted? Out of some of the narrator’s thoughts he shared in the story, it seems like Christine would be able to see it as actually a good thing, if she can get past the dirty ones.