Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, April 08, 2005
Narrow walkway near the tracks
(new MZ poem)
Growing up near an elevated train
presented my friends and I with
the opportunity for much mischief.
For example, we could steal ripe tomatoes
from the fruit stand on 31st Street and
toss them at the train passing on the el.
A more dangerous practice involved
walking from one station to the next.
The first step would be to sneak on the train
(I don’t remember paying during my entire adolescence)
We’d hide out near the token booth until
we heard the train coming,
vault the turnstile,
and head up the stairs two at a time.
To make it look like he gave a shit,
the token clerk would yell “Hey” after us…
too late.
We’d take the train one stop
from 36th Avenue to 39th Avenue
and then walk back.
By “walk,’ I mean we’d get to the end
of the platform and climb down onto
the narrow walkway near the tracks.
From this point, we could walk
without a train hitting us
as we looked down onto the street.
I wasn’t real big on looking down…
but peer pressure is a powerful entity.
Copyright © 2005-2007 Mickey Z.
