Polite navel-gazing on the orange line metro

Lucy Ton That

We catch the T at 10:17.
Its doors sigh and release;
the mass rushes in, still bathing in bass.
The tram car is concert-packed and
the line cooks going home shudder.
We drunk passengers coo and sway
for music that no longer plays.
And every seat is full tonight.

I’m tired of being goddamn upright.
I’ve been made up for hours,
shuffled my feet into point-toed boots.
9 stops away, they beg for relief,
so I resign and find my spot on the tram floor,
eye-level with stomach-bare.

A stranger’s belly button meets my tired stare.
A fleshy puckered kiss,
resting priestly above a denim waistband,
Skin tied neatly as always,
little well disembodied from its owner.
The T grumbles to a halt and the navel disembarks.

Other things happened after that.

Lucy Ton That is a student at Yale University majoring in English Language and Literature and pursing a certificate in Vietnamese language. Lucy is the Editor-in-Chief of DOWN Magazine.

ABOUT THE ART | Johnny by Lexa Pulido Rodriguez, 2024. Lexa Pulido Rodriguez is a student at Yale University.