Charles Bernstein’s subway poem powers up our second season of “Car Poems.” With jarring beats that capture the physical rhythms and disorientations of commuting, this 31st installment electrifies the subterranean struggles of New York City’s strap hangers.
***
The Alphabet of the Tracks
A’s on the F
& D’s
the C,
but only
in sector B,
then
runs on N
till becoming
A again.
R’s local
on express,
otherwise it’s
think Q & G.
L skips
all stops while
O
terminates
unexpectedly:
take
shuffle bus
if available
or transfer
to V
when possible
.
no
weekend service
on M, T, & E
until June 22, 2023.
signal problems
on X: expect
delays on the Y & Z.
late night
service
suspended on every
other line
for an indeterminate
time.
Charles Bernstein is the author of Pitch of Poetry (University of Chicago, 2016) and Recalculating (Chicago, 2013). He is Donald T. Regan Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is co-director of PennSound. His latest poetry collection, Near/Miss (Chicago, 2018), comes out next month.
