Subway Ride

optical illusion

two poems about the subway:

 

 

5AM Subway Ride to School

.

Got the trombone

in its case

backpack on my “hump”

.
Squeezing

through the doors

’til angry

rubber thumps-

.
jumps its rubber lips

firm shut!

an IRT, IND, BMT

subway bite-

.
A real life squeeze

IN REAL LIFE

IRL

.
Frankenstein

freaky, scary,

TO BE HONEST

TBH

trip.

by Jeanne Poland

 

Rush Hour 
by Anita Pulier

Dressed for work,
silk blouse, gold necklace,
short pleated skirt, sheer black stockings,
backless high heel summer sandals,
she waits with hordes of subway commuters.
As the doors open she raises her sandaled foot 
to step into the train, then watches
as her shoe slips off and tumbles
 down the dark gap between train and platform.
 Doors about to close, she makes her decision
to continue one-shoed, improvising a one-footed ballet
 on the grimy stage
 of a speeding express train.
All eyes are now on her,
 her choreography, her
 en pointe shoelessness, her
 uneven grace and courage,
an entire subway car watching
 this debut, questioning,
how will she navigate
the station, the stairs, 
this bumpy ride, 
the world above.
She smiles, buoyed 
by their curiosity 
which feels very close 
to kindness,
concentrates on
 squealing loudspeakers spewing 
unintelligible words
about her shoe,
 her bare stockinged foot,
 her life, her talent for missteps,
feels the cold grimy floor
 under pointed cramping toes,
convinced kindness has now turned to ridicule,
exposed and defeated
 before the day has barely begun.

“Rush Hour” by Anita Pulier  from Perfect Diet. Finishing Line Press, © 2011. Reprinted with permission.