I have travelled this train
Five years, anonymous,
Wondering who you all are.
Mr Executive, resplendent in suit
A picture of seriousness, focused,
Never a sideways glance.
Miss Career Girl, smart, tailored,
Always a phone to you ear
Engaged in troubled conversation.
The Hi-Vis boys, all at one end
Endless chatter, heads together
Frivolous banter, intermittent laughter.
Young girl, remember your first day,
Nervous glances, worried frown
But destined to mark your mark.
Every day we share this carriage
We nod as non-communicative friends
I miss you if you are not here.
I look and wonder who you are,
Do you give a moment’s thought to me?
As friends who will never meet.
Written for: http://dversepoets.com/2014/03/01/poetics-invisibility/
Morpethroad 
i used to take the train to work for about 2 years – and it’s true..after a while you “know” the people – you maybe even start to greet them and wonder about their story but everyone is in their own world… i wish we would be brave enough to talk to them
p.s. fixed your link at dVerse
and would be cool if you took the time to visit some of the other poets who wrote to the challenge as well
I take your hint and I shall
Thanks Claudia,yes the train was always a source of wonder as to who everyone was. My link was faulty?
True.. these subways we are invisible (but still very visible) to each other.. and we make up theories of what they are… maybe the executive is in reallity something else…
Thanks Bjorn, maybe he is underneath his suit and super hero or the postman.
I can imagine that after a while if one takes a train regularly one does recognize those who sit in the same carriage after a while. And I think it is also natural to wonder just who the others are….yet feeling invisible & not known, though each person may be more visible to the others than they can imagine!
Thanks Mary, that’s a good point maybe we are and they in turn worry about us when we are missing.
it is interesting the connection we make on public transport…personally i love it…so many stories in one place…and you know a a bit or have generated a story for them…and we do miss them…even not knowing them we develop a bond of moving in the same direction…
Thanks Brian, yes we do develop a bond, even if it is only in our heads.
Your poem reminded me of what a friend used to tell me about her daily commutes. She did not really know the people she traveled with but could tell when someone was missing. I like how your portrayed these mysterious connections.
Thank you Gabriella I found if someone wasn’t there you did worry about them.
I have never had to take a train or subway or bus to work, but I can imagine that you would see the same people all the time. Would make for a kind of kinship. Wonderful poem Michael.
Thanks Jackie, I did go by train for a number of years, though ours were country trains and we were always very polite to each other. Though still invisible.
I really like this.
I see people & sometimes wonder about them too. Sometimes I am like this with cars on the road too. I see familiar plates on my way to work every day. If I don’t see them I wonder…
Thanks RoSy, it’s what we do as humans I think, we wonder who these people are who mill around us every day.
I am the same way on public transit, watching people, wondering about their lives…..great response to the prompt – there’s a sort of visible invisibility on public transit or in elevators where people pretend the others arent really there.
Thanks Sherry, great comment I totally agree so often we pretend we are alone so as to avoid contact or being noticed.
Not being – by choice – a car driver means I am a regular bus passenger. Not that many years ago, waiting at the bus stop, some of us would greet and eventually begin to know a little of each others lives.
My ‘friends’ have now moved on and there is a total different set at the bus stop and little communication. It is sad that in this new world of electronic, if distant communication, we become resistant ?afraid of human interaction.
Anna :o]
Thanks Anna that is so true, the sight now days of people immersed in the phones totally ignoring all around them. It is sad.
And so it is. In my workplace, on breaks, folk are immersed in their mobiles and conversation, real conversation is dead.
Sad it is.
Anna :o]
It’s an odd phenomenon isn’t it, what did they think we did before mobiles?
Talk to each other I guess. I work night shifts and before mobiles I knew the names of my day staff colleagues as we interacted with each other.
Now I know their faces but am not quite sure of their names…
Anna :o]
Ah, the morning commute is a mine to be plundered indeed! I have noticed since moving to a different part of my home town, and therefore using a small local station, there is much more chatter amongst us happy few, than the multitude who throng the main station in the morning. I enjoyed this observation immensely, Michael.
Thanks Freya, happy you are able to chat with some fellow commuters.
Ahhh, your poem took me back to when I first started work at 15, I travelled from the lower Blue Mountains to Roseberry by bus/train/bus every day to work at what was then the Department of Motor Transport. The train was one of the old Red Rattlers — stinking hot in Summer and freezing in Winter. It was a lot different back then, you were more likely to talk to fellow commuters. I was so pleased when three years later managed to get a transfer to our local Motor Registry. What a relief! No more getting up at 5:30AM to get to work by 8:30 🙂
I love train travel for holidays though and have been across to Kalgoorlie and Perth on the Indian Pacific 4-5 times when doing research for my YA novel.
Thanks Lyn, happy you found a connection with my poem. Those red rattlers were horrible weren’t they. I want one day to travel the Indian pacific. One day.
Oh I love this poem, Michael and can relate to moments like this in my youth and today as well. I think that I am going to have a try at this prompt:)
Thanks Oli, I do appreciate you commenting. Yes have a go mate.
So true of the daily commute! (Though it is many years now since I did that.)
Thanks Rosemary been a while for me too.
Great description. I can see how a bus or train routine could become like this
Thanks Bryan if you travel the same time same commute it does.
I drive, so I haven’t had much of that experience…although I remember one time when I DID take the bus I was amazed at how many people greeted each other by name as they boarded (I guess in that case, the commuters HAD started to get to know each other)
Cool poem…public transportation is great place to watch people and every one of them has a story, which may be very different than the one we have in our head 🙂
Thanks Lynn very true often we are left to wonder.
The times I used to travel on a train, before I nodded off to sleep mind, I was always fascinated people watching and yes we would In a small way get to know one another after time. Now though all have heads looking into phones, or bopping away to their IPods, so no one sees anyone anymore lol
Thanks jenny, yes that’s the way of it all now. Sad isn’t it.
Nods, yes, though I don’t miss public transport regardless lol
it is amazing how you can spend time or pass by the same individuals everyday – and while not invisible, not truely visible.
So true rmp, its a fact of this modern age. Thanks for your comment.
Ah! this is a fun write – I travel sometimes in the intense morning traffic of the trains – many a times, I have wanted to write about it many a times too. Nicely done.
Thank you so much happy you could connect.
Whenever I travel I often wonder about the people around me. Great observations.
Thanks Kathryn, you see them everyday, same carriage same seats.
I love that closing line “as friends who will never meet” I used to take Isadora to daycare across town I rode the tram same time everyday (in the morning when people would be going to work) but it was never the same crowd which I found rather peculiar. Fantastic poem! I often wonder about people
Thanks so much, Yves. When you travel on the train or bus each day you get to see the same people. And being curious you wonder who and what they are.