Monodrone

I found out I can’t afford 
the rental market anymore; 
priced out of the town I call my home
Now each time I get aboard 
the metro and I go to work 
I hear the suffocating monodrone
It isn’t that I mind the crowds 
or standing for a half an hour, 
reading, leaning against the subway wall
Instead it’s that I hate the sound 
of brakes and tunnels and the loud 
obnoxious conversations going on

I just want my headphones on!
But the outside noise is strong!

And I wouldn’t feel like 
I’d been robbed of half my day
If I didn’t have to hear it
And I’d listen to my walkman 
and I’d drift away
And just maybe I could bear it.

~ spring 2002