Monday breath

Shoes still wet

Mind not ready yet

I rush toward the train

As if breath could outrun time

A blanket of warmth I didn’t ask for

Too much breath

Too little space

I stand

Gripping a pole

That’s never been clean enough

It smells like

Coffee rain skin maybe hope

No one looks

Everyone hides

No one shields

A woman counts coins

Maybe for coffee

Maybe just to keep moving

And the girl with the unicorn game

Her fingers smile

She doesn’t

A lady wipes her glasses

As if clarity will make it less gray

But it’s not fog that hides the world

It’s the dark

Outside and in

A ticket check

Phones flip

Looking for proof

Somewhere between Facebook and fear

I have my ticket

Still feel the shame

She stands pregnant

And no one moves

She’s a mountain

Among nodding heads

I think:

The world is tired

The world is Monday

The world is us

“Next stop is Self-Insight”

For a second

I thought it was real

Maybe it was in my head

Maybe the speaker knows more than we do

Between two stops and a single breath

I heard every unspoken thought

A boy with earbuds hiding storms

A mother pretending not to cry on the toilet

A student who just wants to be seen

Me wondering why it all feels so tight

Doors open

People leave

But something stays

Maybe me

Maybe you

Maybe we all have a station inside us

Called Self-Insight

We just forget to get off there