After Work -

Ready to go

The sky up

It’s raining

Reading a book

On the downtown train

Easy enough

When the words are all plain

Off in the distance

??

playing soprano

While a woman in white shoes

Off with the mouth

About heaven and hell

No one gives her the time

Crossing the bridge

On the Harlem line

People in shantees

Feel the train go by

The billboards overhead

Advertising high-rises

Build a better tomorrow today

The man next to me

And the woman one over

Are looking at a book

And those who aren’t

Are staring at them

Cause the windows are dirty

And they’re standing in the doorway

With their feet on facing chairs

And sleeping heads on shoulders

A girl is waiting

At the Fordham Station

Turns a page

As the sun parts the sky

The ground begins to dry

On the playground

I remember

The taste of metal

And bars in my hands

The ???