Witness Groove

On the inside flange of each steel railroad wheel there is a manufactured groove that marks its true diameter, regardless of the actual wheel size.In the railroad industry, gauges are used to measure the amount of wear the wheel experiences in its contact with steel rails over time. These gauges measure wear from the reference point of the manufactured groove, referred to in the industry as the "Witness Groove".From time to time, the average railroad wheel can be measured for wear and bears witness to every rail, switch, roadbed and curve that marked its passage through its useful life.This slim book of poems, sonnets, and written ramblings reflect the Author's gauging of events in his life and the lives of the people he cares about over a lifetime as seen from a personal "witness groove".