Subway chronicles (pt 1.)

Photo taken by Lük Lupe Photography . 

1.

Averting eye gazes is like a game
Acknowledging existence and
Admiring appearances
is a death sentence in this town.

2. 

I wanted to be like the man of many relics
Fingers covered in rings and trinkets
Bracelets of all types
Samplings of all religions
Rope around his fingertips to never forget
Where it all begins.
 
3. 

I want to be like Marjorie
From the housekeeping company
Whispering prayers in her sleep
Ancient mantras from ancestors
Freestyling her lullaby
As she is rocked in a steel crib
Like the noble God-child,     
weary.

4. 
​
3 policemen walk into a subway
it was less of a joke,
and more of a despairing epiphany
that I officially did not feel safer with them around
I felt anger at the Blue Lives Matter bracelet tightly wrapped around his walkie-talkie–
Someone made that, someone had that manufactured
So I would see the symbolism in the denial of a system that devalues me
they talked candidly and leaned back on their professional
patches on the subway doors,
I stopped writing poems,
Spiritually and historically stunted
Until they walked off.