Dudurudh

Gratitude

I’ll do my best to describe the most beautiful turning in the whole entire subway system. You have to be seated in the window side of the forward-facing bucket seat on the Manhattan-bound N/W train. You know those old ones? With the orange and yellows seats and the dim, flickering lights? The ones that rock sideaways like a cradle on wheels for the days when you want to be held in its arms and fall asleep to its gentle rhythm? 

Look out the window to your right. You’ll see some boring rooftops, empty office cubicles, lots of warehouses and large parking lots. But stay with me. Your cue is when the signboard that says “39av-Dutch Kills” goes past you. 

Slowly you’ll feel the train groan and creek to its right. A large industrial storage building will come into view and quickly make way for a lavish opening. 

That opening is the theatre where the gorgeous urban drama which I hope you will see will unfold. There, on that stage, you’ll see the front of your train curve into the lower platform of Queensboro plaza where a million people are waiting to get to the city. On the upper level to your left, you’ll see an oncoming 7 train crawl past and merge into your own train in front of some tall glass buildings (of which I am not a fan). But look ahead into the distance, an N train will emerge from the tunnel in the opposite direction in slow motion with its headlights on and an imposing (and lit up) Queensboro bridge in the background. On the tree-lined street below is the usual cacophony of queens traffic slowly coming to a halt at a red light and hurried pedestrians and cyclists jostling for space and rushing to someplace or the other.

— all set against a dark sky with a setting sun and the tiny little lights of some Upper East Side skyscrapers. 

This is New York and I’ll fail at describing it every single time. 

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Poetry Month 2025, Day 8