{"id":72555,"date":"2026-02-20T14:11:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T19:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=72555"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:49:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:49:05","slug":"robert-nicholss-indelible-railroad-poems-back-in-print","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2026\/02\/robert-nicholss-indelible-railroad-poems-back-in-print.html","title":{"rendered":"Robert Nichols’s Indelible Railroad Poems Back in Print<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Robert Nichols (1919-2010)<\/em><\/font><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Stadtlichter Presse<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Just received in the mail: a masterly bilingual edition in English and German of Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train <\/em>by Robert Nichols<\/a>. (The title in German: Langsame Wochenschau Eines Bahnreisenden<\/em>.)<\/em> It is the latest in Stadtlichter Presse’s Heartbeats series<\/a> devoted to American poets of the Beat generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

S<\/strong><\/em>low Newsreel of Man Riding Train<\/em> was originally published in 1962 as No. 15 in City Lights Books’ Pocket Poets Series. It has been out of print for decades. Why City Lights hasn’t reprinted it is a mystery to me. Nichols’s book is one of the best in that series. Maybe it’s a matter of literary rights? Or maybe it’s simply been underappreciated and overlooked.<\/strong> I think the latter. Here are the opening lines of the first poem:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning when I was six I became my father's accomplice
in his affair with trains. 
                             The wheels of the night train
are thundering over the Portland Street trestle.
We are crouched below, momentarily wrapped in steam.
At a country crossing the Express passes us
and disappears in the snow. . . .
                             
Our job was to mark the passage
of all trains going North South & West of Wayne Jtn ME.
as an ornithologist notes the flyways of birds.
We knew the names of all trains
even the secret ones.  <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I can’t help wondering what Jack Kerouac made of Nichols’s railroad poems.<\/strong> I don’t think he ever commented on them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just received a masterly bilingual edition in English and German of “Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train” by Robert Nichols. It is the latest in Stadtlichter Presse’s bilingual Heartbeats series devoted to American poets of the Beat generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":72637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,18,4,23,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-72555","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"category-literature","9":"category-main","10":"category-news","11":"category-political-culture","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/robert-nichols-mugshot-bdr240.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-iSf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72555"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72669,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72555\/revisions\/72669"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}