Underground

long years spent learning the subterranean complexities

of a subway system

shunting this way and that like a white corpuscle

in a strangely flattened beastie – and still

a momentary loss of concentration will send you

down the wrong artery and you find yourself surfacing

blinking furiously in the overworld light

and you taste the meaning of the word:
terminus

(originally appeared in Soul Fountain)