
05.14.91
I sit, as it were (crouched, really, my back braced to a wall), in the twilight dawn of subway station X, the twilight dawn that stretches, dim, through all these lonely and darkened corridors during any period of the night, every night.
Can you feel the breeze? It comes noticeably from my left, from the north, ruffles my hair... would ruffle these pages were I to relax my hold. That’s the air pushed ahead through the tunnel by the next approaching train. And look! Up the track, still in the tunnel: two yellowish eyes come a’rattling and a’screeching its approach: a #9 train, heading south? Well, thankie much; don’t mind if I do.
Now I sit in another expanse, internal and metallic and mobile this time, descending the colon of the beast, a long smooth chromium turd sliding down down, to dump me downtown, as it were.
And Look! Stuttering through the girders and briefly glimpsed as they rattle past: every station a book-in-waiting, if only I would take the time and...
Ah. The ride smooths as we coast from 116 → 110 on steady rails and no propulsion, superconductive it feels, steady as the night. Now we slow, pause, ka-ching, doors open, souls descend and disembark, or vice versa, as the case may be... ding ding... "Stand clear of the closing door!" to lurch us on our way.
Look!
The yellow/orange plastic pre-formed curves designed to palm the average NY bum. (Or “transient,” as I believe correct terminology these days, or "unsavory," by others [Cam!...]). And my bum too! It could be Mickey Ds, in here, with the form-fitting molded orange and beige plastic of it. But listen!
A rush of air. A higher whine. The low-slung murmured gossip that animals make to pass the time, distract the mind, from the terminable darkness.
Oh, hark. Why have we stopped now? No tiled aquarium glow to be glimpsed, just blank blackness outside the scratched and plastic windows, maybe a hint of grimy tunnel wall pressed close up to the glass. But still... feel that? A hum. The deeper, burning, glowing surge of electricity held in check. Do any of us really know: the thrumming power that feeds the grid?
Oop, on the move again. And someone laughs as we lurch and leave the station (103rd). Out of 22 passengers in this car (yes, I counted) I am not the only caucasian. Another sits opposite and ½ way down, his chin propped on knee-propped fist… no socks, white t-shirt, shorts (it’s damned hot, remember). And me, now, as we arrive at 86th (“Stand clear of the closing doors…” ding...ding. Swoooooosh. Hummmm.) Yes me. I'm glad you asked: red socks, red t-shirt, khaki shorts… I write. For no apparent reason, I write. I am a “writer”, pen to paper, thus. But when I pause (which I don’t often) what then? For example, as we hit 79th and I glance up to take assessment… When I pause to lick the quill and look around. Still a writer? Definition unclear.
"Burden of Proof" (by Scott Turow) is the novel the man held; the man who (bearded, bespectacled, marching resolutely from one car to the next, bracing himself occasionally from swaying) passed, just now, in front of my knees and, for a moment, through the world of my perception and description…
Hark! 66th street… south, south and south some more we go (59th next). Ding ding.
… but am I still a writer then?
I am surrounded now it should be glumly noted. And it ain’t no fun. To my right, to my left, and above, hanging one arm on the crossbar. If one of these scurrilous fellows so much as side-eyes they can read every word and meta-word (and meta-meta-word) I scribe. Well, fuck ‘em all! To hell with them! I scribble on, undeterred, and determined, it might appear, to set a new, and, as yet unconceived record, to be the first, foremost and probably ONLY person to scribble virtually unceasingly from 125th Street (ah, respite from the prying eyes: 42nd Grand Central brings an equally grand exodus, a general emptying of the train, the good from the chaff, as it were [chaff, including me, left on board, as only those heading TRULY downtown stay] and I can breathe again with some space and lucidity and privacy around.) Yes UNCEASINGLY, is what I was saying, I shall pull meaning from the void and press it in ever tightening spirals and hieroglyphs to this page, to be exhumed someday and marveled at by future sociologists and historians alike. They will ogle and gasp, unable to believe, equally unable to deny: the only person, I propose, ever to write perpetually from 125th Street to Christopher Street, unstopping! AND, as 14th St is now behind us, it appears I might just make it since Christopher is next and no more power outages in sight. Still, man plans and god laughs and when's the last time a power outage was predicted never mind spotted, so I won't count it yet, not yet, but now! The train slows! The aquarium glow. Most importantly, I can’t miss my stop (that would be a disastrous and dastardly turn of events). CHRISTOPHER STREET. Ding ding. Jayson, out!
The Subway Diaries (77/85)
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That was a bizarre moment, speaking of drama, or lacking thereof (see previous entry) and it served to propel me from my potentially permanent roost (I was clearly sinking in for a long rest). The phone, by the public restrooms had been ringing incessantly + repeatedly and it brought to mind the time I answered such a phone near Dublin House and Kandles said that someone was probably watching me w/a rifle and indeed as I spoke to the person on the other end it seemed that whoever it was was quite drunk and could indeed see me – altho I have no proof of this – and Kandle said it was a typical NYC prank, to call some nearby payphone and snicker as you watch people answering it, and since then I’ll be damned if I pick up another random ringing public phone. Anyway some rollerblading yoot eventually plucked the culprit from its cradle and I watched to see his reaction – if he looked put off or insulted, and he seemed to be looking around as though to spot someone so I quickly looked away, not wanting to appear complicit, and so I didn’t actually see what happened next, but when I looked up again, the rollerblader had summoned another guy — bare-chested, older, Iggy Pop style — to the phone. So what I’m thinking now is that perhaps this area, by the bathrooms, is a gay pickup spot and someone had walked past and noticed Iggy Pop (perhaps ‘caught the vibe’?) and was utilizing this recognized procedure for initiating contact. (I decided that if someone were to approach me and say that I had a phone call, I would surely say, “take a message.”) Anyway, Iggy took the call and spoke for some minutes and seemed, if not pleased, not unpleased by the conversation and the event, and even signaled gratitude to the blader for alerting him to the call. Then he departed going who knows where. So I don’t know what it was all about, but now I really must move on.
But first – a lady just walked past pushing a squalling baby. Just a tiny infant type – wailing away w/every breath – flat on his poor little back in the pram, squawking continuously like a chicken. The lady pushing quite fast. Everyone else alarmed and uncomfortable. Baby is sick, perhaps, and mom has decided to push him to the pediatric center? Baby always cries like that? Mother can’t deal: slapped the baby (doubtful this last theory since no initial pain could cause such enduring complaint…)? Mother is not mother at all, some lady stealing baby and baby is fundamentally objecting…?