Getting To Poets For New York Waiting for the C train,
so ‘course a B train comes right away
figure I’ll transfer to a C at Columbus Circle
cuz I don’t wanna wait here at 86th street another 45 minutes like I always do,
and I can get down quick to Washington Square
en route to Cornelia Street.
I get in the car
that two separate young women get on,
one a redhead in a bright yellow shirt
that reads in big black block letters “SECURITY”
and the other who sits across me with frizzy black hair
gives me an intense look that I dunno if
its meant to be intimidating or lustful.

Train skips Columbus Circle free of explanation,
begins to crash the tracks vehemently
causing me to wonder if
the train’s been hijacked and gonna be rammed into the walls,
but then pulls tranquilly into the 7th ave station,
and the speaker announces: “all trains will skip 59th street Columbus Circle going both uptown and downtown due to security investigations.”
Now how the fuck am I gonna catch a train
that’ll get me to Cornelia Street Café
so I can do this poetry reading
on the subject and anniversary of September 11?