steaming asphalt exhales
beneath the september rain
slicing the indian summer heat

droplets drip dithering downward
the steps to my underground platform:
a city swallowing me whole

here a dim tunnel sprawling deeper still
tile walls that may have been white once
now dressed in the dust of ages:
the picture outside the brochure

benches vacant
save for one traveler
brought here and left stranded
below lights flickering
fluorescent and austere:
a sign reading Division

like the silence between us
words unspoken but heard
clearer than the subway train
shrill and shrieking
its wheels rusting
on tracks overworn

it passes by once
then again
and however many times
each time my reflection
split across train car windows
so transiently

and how many trains
will screech by this station
before I find it's time to board
to leave with the clicking of the subway
as it trails off in the distance

I hear it coming

don't you?

12/15/2017

Author's Note: CTA Blue Line, Division station.

Posted on 12/15/2017
Copyright © 2024 John Herzog