Subway Strangers

conversation snippets

patter like precipitation

this heat, that rain

what job, which station

desperate souls

and lonely trolls

railing needlessly

as we roll

castaways

among millions

clinging to the pole

all of us awkwardly

spying

for a friendly face

among these crowds

too sad, too lonely

but not too proud

Steerage

crowd-hobbled

rain-slicked platforms

where we scrum

for a place

among the two-legged livestock

bristling angry

pointless

like a neutered gamecock

careless spill of languages

and faces

the same misery

among the mad races

broken down and delayed

resigned to this misery

for the hardened underpaid

cheek by jowl
make our own way

and say a silent vow

of “Someday…”