Projections
written by: Jenny Middleton
tube trains scuttle, juddering
rushing, not stopping but slowing
to pass through
abandoned Aldwych — abandoned
as the newspaper curling
on the toothed nylon seat
itching at the back of my thighs
clad in Lycra tights— at last
aching with sleep
seeping into muscles
and itching— knowing
more than seeing
but feeling loss zip-zip the tracks
thundering and screeching
through the carriage and into my head
like decades that flash with pasted
paper advertisements crawling
into tunnelled black—
commuters’ voices playing dead beat
beat into night and a woman
dressed in blurry, white lace
walks into a CCTV camera’s frame
and dissolves, jumping
into nothing as I wake
shivering–sweating— still seated
silence humming and whirring
from each empty compartment
reaching the end of the line.
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