Nobody

– i’m going to throw myself in front of the train

paces platform far end erratic loops

muttering

you hear his vow first. and

– (mutter)

– nobody will help me out

– (stationmaster robot speaks) attention passengers. the next orange line train to forest hills. is now approaching

he verges the yellow strip

latina mom two little daughters

teenage after-schools at their little rectangles

skateboard flipped by a toe

he leans out. scouts the incoming line

you hear the car scoop its air channel

– attention passengers. the next orange line train to forest hills. is now arriving

retreats a couple feet backward

rocks his soles. arm pendulums fist weights

you are near his side now

tired men with dinner in mind

train ready to snap from arriving to arrived

put a hand on his chest

– don’t do it man

no flinch no resist no none of your business

– (mutter)

– nobody will help me out

eyes raised. fallen

a five in his hand

– thank you

on the car secluded seats

his elbows on knees. face in hands

two stops your exit

– take care of yourself sir

– (mutter)

– (mutter)

moist corneas

– thank you sir

 

David P. Miller’s poems have appeared in print in Meat for Tea, Stone Soup Presents, Ibbetson Street, and the 2014 Bagel Bards Anthology, and online in the Muddy River Poetry Review, Wilderness House Literary Review, and the Boston and Beyond Poetry Blog. His chapbook, The Afterimages, is forthcoming from Červená Barva Press. His has three “micro-chapbooks” available from the Origami Poems Project website. David was a member of the multidisciplinary Mobius Artists Group of Boston for 25 years, and is a librarian at Curry College in Milton, Mass. He studies with Tom Daley, and has been seen in the company of one or more of the Bagel Bards.