frozen countdown

metro observations

on the metro now,
a sunday at 0815,
everyone’s either on the phone
or asleep.
difficult to tell
which from which.

i was not wrapped up in a device,
until now,
as i draft into an app.

typewriters are difficult to wield on the Q,
no pen or paper on me, either.
traveling light, tho, is the key ruse of technological advancement,
where weightless tools require battery packs.

a child stares out the window,
absorbed by flickering lights through columns and tunnel walls, and the bolted slicing whooshes of opposite-bound express trains.
their blue hair, against streaks of red and green signal lamps,
mirrors fast-passing blue-lit platform emergency phones.

they and me were the only 2 in the car
both untethered to phones
and awake,
until i decided to stop observing
and write,
because,
well,
idk,
i’ve seen it all already a thousand times.

still, i took a still.

now this moment is a
frozen forever
countdown
to my last ride to Brooklyn
for a long while