(During the Years of 1999 and 2000)
August 1999
Rising
Sun
We came out of the dark
subway tunnel across
the East River Bridge.
We entered the evening
twilight and looked out
windows to see, weary
from a long day of work,
glimpses of little Asian women
in sweaty shops sewing still.
The light, though dim,
was brighter behind those
grungy grey half-open
broken paned windows
than it was outside.
It was hot over there,
but cool in the train.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
May
1999
Danceman
Dance!
Practices
the moves
grooves
and gyrations
The
music in his ears
that
everyone else in
their
early morning
sleepy
slow half
paralyzed
haze
can
barely hear.
Walkman’s
power…
Danceman
dance!
People
smirk to each
other
or with knowing
snide
smirks but
they are
all
thinking
the same –
Wish I
could be
that
free
free
like him…
Danceman
dance.
Groove
and move to
the
tunes in your ears
the
tunes no one else
but you
hears.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
May 1999
Subway
Charm
Young
Indian Man Stands
Motions,
“Come, sit here,”
Not a
question,
but a
kind beckon.
Old
White Woman Sits.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
May 1999
Weedy Rusty Tracks
Brick
by brick carcasses
Faded
company names.
Holes
from glass panes-
Faces
looked out between shifts
Towards
freight trains chugging by
Building
by building towns.
-Phantom
faces now wane
Towards
commuters breezing by
Jagged
window frames.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
June 15, 1999
Carnal Entendre
I just witnessed this
Man
In a suit.
I took note of his
Professional
Prosperous
look.
His
look appealed to me.
I just witnessed this black
Man
Catch sight of a black wo-
Man
(And her friend)
And stare her
Down
As she walked
Past
Him.
Like an
Animal
and prey,
He
stared
Her
Down.
She
looked
Professional
too
(As did her friend)
And kept up
Walking
Right
Past
him
Still talking
(to her friend).
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
June 16, 1999
Impending Closing Doors
She
yells to her
across
the subway,
"Three
more stops?"
The
other barely nods,
holding
up three fingers
crooked
and wrinkled
unable
to straighten
joints
enlarged with age.
When
the train stops,
they
pull themselves
(and
their canes) up,
rising
slowly together
with
much effort
and
shuffle
as fast
as they can
fearful
of the
closing
doors.
They
left together.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone
July
19, 1999
Meditation
on Getting Pushed
in
Front of a Subway Train
I fear
getting pushed in front of a subway train.
It
wouldn't take much. It wouldn't take long.
Just a
person with irrepressible anger or voices
giving
me a little shove at just the right time.
I’d get
caught up in the several thousand
pounds
of a hard as steel subway train.
I don't
know how long it would take for
me to
die? Depends on how I get hit by it.
I might
just lose a leg or an arm or a shoulder
and not
die at all, but just get mangled.
People
would scream, and despite the gross
horror
of my mangled damage body, squished
like
berries in a steel hand press, they would be
compelled
to look, even gawk and take pics.
I don't
trust subway trains: they move way
too
fast on autopilot, but they don’t move
at all
when you touch them. Horses were better.
At
least a horse would try to jump over you.
~Volpini Amentum Arete
Anemone