Subways

For Becca

Oh, to be sitting on an uptown train as I write this!

I love subways.
I love the power, the percussion
the roar as it enters the station
yellow stripes marking danger.
I love dirt imbedded dried up black gum.
I love busted vending machines
and hopeful musicians.
I love anonymity
diversity
graffiti
garbled announcements
  ad after ad after ad
  a zillion tiles
  turnstiles.

I love blue lights in a dark tunnel.

I love looking at strangers and
imagining their homes
  their kitchens
  refrigerators
  and most of all their medicine chests
  their underwear drawers.
I look at their clothes and imagine when they bought
that pair of sneakers?
  that blouse?
  who gave her that sweater?
where’d he buy that cap?
everything that once was not in their lives
and now is--
the mystery of how so much
  comes from so many
  to end up in one life—
each the center of a completely unique
universe
and for just these few moments
I am part of it
just as they are part of
mine
and then we’re gone.

May you look with fascination at the most mundane aspects of life and find your heart attached to the entire Universe.