black pair of panties
lying on the trolley tracks
where did you come from?
MBTA Orange Line Haiku
the cardinal rule
of subway travel is this:
don’t make eye contact
Hammond Pond Reservation, Green Line crossing
For five extra minutes you follow the path
through mayapple, sarsaparilla and anxiety
over a little hill and through
what might be blueberry and poison ivy
with beech and oak and maple rustling overhead
to a pond, a flooded field really
and the curl of wind over its flat surface
and the beaten-down dried rushes
and a barrier of stones
upon which rests
a butterfly with black, gold-tipped wings
thirty seconds later, you turn to see
the Riverside Line cross,
two green trolleys
over the silent water
Garden of Words 