thursday afternoon
there are five of them
waiting on the platform at 20th avenue
two girls and three boys
when they get on the train, loud and vicious
they split up
the girls go toward one end
the boys sit next to me
they give the girls a chance to sit down
and then smallest one
(isn’t it always the smallest one)
starts
he cups his mouth
he shouts, ya’ll a bunch a pussies
ya’ll cunts
lydia….cunt
you too, maria
ya’ll a bunch a pussies, he repeats
so that only the deaf and the dead haven’t heard him
no one responds to the kid
not even the girls
maybe we’ve all grown too accustomed to this shit
or we just want to get the hell home
christ, he’s not even that old
leaning more toward thirteen than a young man
up with fellas
down with ugly bitches, he shouts
and it echoes through the train like a cannon shot
then the boys slap each other five and laugh
they are all dressed the same
in clothing telling them to OBEY
well, i guess they’re off to a great start in this country
i look down toward the girls
they are laughing and playing music
if the boys have gotten to them you’d never know
but girls have to learn early here
they have to learn to scrape indignity off with a smile
bitch whore cunt pussies
at 61st street the little boy rises with me to
leave
but not before getting in one more shot
ya’ll is ugly pussy bitch, he shouts
then he gets off the train laughing
but it doesn’t last too long
his face turns into a permanent smirk
i look at him
i wonder what it would take to grab him in the station
right here
right now
put the fear of god in the little punk
tell him if i ever catch you talking to women like that
again….
this strutting piece of american privilege
on a thursday afternoon
he wouldn’t listen to me anyway
i’d be another pussy
so i let him go toward his connecting train
and i go off toward mine
doing my part to let the misogyny perpetuate
wondering what in the world i’ll say about this
to my wife
our mothers
your sisters
to everyone’s niece.
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