Shoshana Kertesz

Brooklyn

Down on the platform
Waiting for the train
I see a movie poster
Filled with graffiti,
A phone number and a note "call me"
I called but no one answered
Finally my train is here
I sneeze into the palm of my hand
And touch the pole
I wish I hadn`t done that
Now a nice Haitian lady
Named Bess
Is going to get my illness
Moreover she is going to pass it on
To her little niece
Who will have to miss school
Everybody on the train is African American
Except for two Orthodox Jews
And an unidentified person (that`s me)
She looks like a Jew
But she is wearing jeans
Maybe she is one of those organic geeks
Who live in Park Slope
But no, she is travelling on
Past the 7th Avenue
If she gets off on Franklin
And switches to the “2”
Then we know that she is a Jew
(an ignorant one, wearing pants)
She did get off on Franklin
But she is heading towards the exit
If she turns left she is one of those lesbian artists
But no, she turns right
Straight into the heart of Haiti
Where her home is
Where people can eat two donuts
And feel no guilt
They know how to live
And how to enjoy
They stand outside their homes
And yell a loud hello
Here comes the "snowflake" with a flat bottom
She is so pale, as if she is about to faint
She is missing red blood cells
Or needs to eat more donuts and enjoy more

Shoshana Kertesz is a poet and visual artist living in North Bergen, NJ. Her poems have been recently published in the L.E.S. Review, Foliate Oak and Lily Literary Magazines.