A slightly non-standard conductor’s announcement:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have a red signal against us” (instead of the usual “ahead of us”).
Fellow passengers use slang from a certain industry:
“West 4th is the money stop” (because so many people get off there. Budum-pum.)
Came up with this during my morning subway ride:
Magnetic flux in a white glass tube
Bounces greenish light
From stainless steel guts
Of a stainless steel worm
That travels beneath the waves.
An empty Greek cup
That held a drink
Of infusion of coffee beans
Is clenched in a hand of a woman who sleeps
Not seeing any dreams.
A holy book in hands of a man
Holds a promise of mystical lore
Wrapping words of wise men
Of time gone by
Around holier word of fore.
A cat in a box
With plastic doors
Looks outside with fear.
The stainless steel worm
Makes no sense
To a being with claws and hair.
Keys in a clip
On a belt of a man
In a jacket of steely-blue cloth
Can open doors
In a tower of grey
Containing amazing wealth.
A plastic red sack
With symbols of black
Carries cheap and expensive treats
That smell of a place
That is far, far away
Not connected by rails.
The ceramic song
Of passing stops
A swirling mosaic sets
In the minds of passengers riding the worm
That eats the electric thread.