Trains of Paperclips

Even a simple task like handing a co-worker a paperclip can set me off...

The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad
rolls along river banks through woodlands.
Cars of potatoes by the hopper load
are carried along the rail's steel bands.

From the fields of Northern Maine
steadily south the train steams,
through small towns into forest again,
an unending journey it seems.

Black smoke, steel wheels, pistons,
all is noise as she passes by,
shaking the earth with 400 tons,
a grand sight, few can deny.

"Lou, just hand me a paper clip,
quit pretending they are a train
or some kind of space ship.
What is wrong with your brain?"