Local or Express?

I ride the subway with the people

At 6 am, those aren’t the people who make

the big decisions

At 6 am, I ride with people too old to

be dealing with this shit

People who can’t afford what they’ve worked 40 years to have:
retirement

I ride the subway with people from more countries

than I can name...countries I’ll never visit

Speaking languages I’ll never understand

People here to find what doesn’t exist:

American Dream

Here’s the action a little later

(when more professionals join the fray):

The 6 local and both the 4 and 5 express

stop at 86th Street

The 6 upstairs

4 and 5 down a flight

Frenzied New Yorkers...always looking for an edge

Trying to get a jump on someone...anyone

They stand on the landing between platforms

where they can watch for both

local and express

Hoping for express...it’s a quicker ride, natch

Will settle for local

Just get me on the FIRST train

Funniest for me to watch is when local

rumbles into station...sending everyone dashing

up the stairs only to hear express arriving a

few seconds later

Commuters momentarily frozen:

Continue up or reverse field like a halfback

to try for the shorter—more desirable—ride?

Imagine if we were all headed

someplace we actually wanted to be