Subway Story

I hear their voices call out the stops.
They work, standing,
in a tiny room built into
one of the moving cars,
men and women, letting us know
"there's a train ahead,
we should be moving shortly,
please be patient,"
(tho it always annoys me
when they say "please be
patient," as I prefer
"thank you for your
patience," it's classier).

And they call out the stops
into the handheld
loudspeaker microphone,
in that tiny room
with its one window
and a metal door,
their wide ranging voices
making them seem
larger than life,
heard from every car
on the train.

And I always like it
when I get off the train,
to see the face behind
the voice, as they
stick their necks out
the window of the train,
to see what's up ahead,
and to let us know
the next stop.