I. Hermann Park/Rice U
I was coming home when my train got stopped at the Hermann Park/Rice U station
A police officer directed us onto the platform, saying there had been an accident on the train ahead
It was here where I met a man with Parkinson's wrapped in a blanket, shuffling from person to person, twitching eyes and mouth fixated on the sky above
Where I accidentally made eye contact with a tired old woman who had hair the color of a black hole, and eyes the shade of coffee with sugar cream and three shots of espresso
Where I met a bartender with a scruffy white beard and scraggly voice, who said “these kinds of things happen all the time” while running his hands through the ribbons of smoke on his chin
As we all waited together for another train to pick us up

II. I Saw A Man Sleeping
I saw a man sleeping on the steps of a chapel this morning
From my comfortable seat on the train, my window view
The throne of luxury that I had been lucky enough to grab when I got on
His body was curled up, his arms tucked in to shield himself from the leftover cold of the night before
He lay there, in front of the house of God, the haven for nowhere people
And the door never opened for him

III. My Father Told Me
My father told me something he saw on the train not too long ago:
An elderly black man hacking violently, choking on his own life
The other passengers, 4-6 men of different colors and ages, sat there and watched
Too afraid of whatever danger there might be, swimming in the man’s feeble muscles
Finding it easier to stare into the well-lit pattern the man’s spit made on the floor

IV. On The Morning Train: The Woman in the Green Scarf
Recently I met an elderly woman on the morning train
Her eyes were bright green, matching the scarf she had wrapped around her head
Her lips were small and always curled upwards like a river flowing upstream, floating around rocks in her path like they weren’t there
I don’t remember how we started talking
She said she had always been a painter, that she often set up at the train station to create the day
She showed me the painting she was holding - a collection of vivid lights, a field with flowers flying over it and a scarecrow standing alone
When I asked where I could buy one, she shook her head and said, “No honey, I give these away. I live for smiles, not quarters and dimes.”
She smiled, bid me farewell, and got off at her stop
I have not seen her since. If there is a God, I believe I met her that day

V. On The Morning Train: Modern-Day American King
I met a modern-day American king today on the train
Wearing a green hoodie and colorful sports sunglasses, his hair sticking up in the dry air-conditioned wind
He was already preaching by the time my sister and I had reached our seats
A woman in a nurse’s outfit looked at him with suspicion
Her gaze drifting to his hand, expecting it to be in pockets other than his own
This did not go unnoticed, especially by the man
“They have nothing that I want,” he said
“Thievery is unkingly behavior, and I am nothing if not a king. Those who think like that have a peasant’s brain”
He continued to chastise the woman, and anyone who looked at him, until they got off the train
“They judge so quickly and so harshly, not knowing who the real judge is,” he said to no one in particular
“You’re all so filled with hate and anger, prejudice and stereotypes. I am the Prince of Peace,” he spat. “I have no room for that in my life”
He seemed to have plenty of room in his life to rage at the people left on the train, however
As we sat there, my sister and I, desperately avoiding eye contact by staring at our phones
I looked up to watch him get off the train at the Museum District stop
And raise his hand out for the bus
Ready to preach to another crowd