The overweight RN with her lanyard
badge and stone face
And the single mother [my assumption]
with the pre-teen boy uncorrupted yet
Still holds her hand and kisses her
now and then
The middle-aged Chicano bodybuilder
with the shaved head and bushy
moustache
Talks about his Arabian horses with
the half-scared white lady
Who probably would have talked to him
to the end of the line
If he had not gotten off
The small Asian woman deep in her
seat
Nervously twists the handles of her
purse
And cannot stop talking to herself
Krispy Kreme since 1937
An institution by God
All over the walls of this car
The precious black baby makes
Infant faces at me and I amuse her
And her mother is not involved
And looks too tired to notice
Her daughter’s distraction
The pretty pale lady with auburn hair
Cries under her sunglasses
And her hands shake as she sobs
And dabs her wet eyes with Kleenex
And searches out the window for
nothing
As the light turns dark in the tunnel
No one really looks you in the eye
They are unsure of themselves
And do not know you
And do not want to know you
I clutch my bag and check my watch
and get ready
For the next stop and a new set of
players
Who offer no introduction and no
information
And no inclination to know me
And no reason to care.