The Quiet Car

Crowded, Amtrak’s Quiet Car.
My legs, cramped
all of me, cramped.

Read
Work
Listen to music.

Noise-cancelling headphones,
gift from my son,
block most noise.

Not quiet
like
a library,
meditation room
or Hernshead at 7 in the morning.

Train wheels churn
Train jostles
Train sets fast pace
Train, not quiet.

Engine labors
powers us north
all of us,
quiet or not.

Philly.
Passengers board,
disembark.
Train leaves station
man screams
no noise cancelled.

Screams “I need to get off.”
Somehow, he didn’t know this was Philly.
Something about his wife
needs to be somewhere
maybe Penn’s cancer center.

I go there.
It’s a kind place.

Not sure what happened.
I was too scrunched
to turn around.

Train did not stop.

A conductor’s announcement:
For those seated in the Quiet Car
please be quiet.

Published in Gramercy Review, Issue 5, July, 2025