Subway childhood
one, two, three, four
small heads on
small boys
look out as
i pass by, on a
wooden seat, on a
concrete platform
fastened
while to them,
faces-pressed-to-panes
i move, with the
tracks, with the
skywith the tan man
with foreheaded sunglasses
that checks his wrist-watchwith the pale bearded man
devoutly whispering each word
from a hand-held dog-eared bookwith the young woman
standing, conversingwith the older woman
frowning, leaning
head-on-fist
elbow-on-wood
wood riveted to wall
wall above tracks
where carriages passone, two, three, four
mothers
keep their arms and eyes inside
the vehicle at all times,
avoid others
dose out a
small slap on a
small wrist of a
small boy
if ever he makes
(back-turned) a
small movement, a
small sound
disturbing a gentle equillibrium
of mixed-flavoured men waiting for
the city street
to open up before them
Interesting style. Well, I like it… A lot of time to think isn’t there? Although you seem to be meeting up with people everywhere anyhow…
Comment by Alicia — 20 August, 2006 @ 9:52 pm
Hey, I really like this!
I especially like your usage of the word “fastened” in the first stanza: it seems to be equally applicable to the wooden benches and to the small boys heads, fastened onto their shoulders. I also enjoyed the notion of moving with the sky at the end of the first paragraph (despite the obvious fact that the sky is unchanging and still) and of the street (which, likewise, cannot move) opening up before the passengers at the end of the final stanza. Really nice use of imagery, my favourite probably being the “mixed-flavoured men”. Makes me think of a tin of tobacco actually. Hmm.
Comment by Simon — 21 August, 2006 @ 9:05 am