Poem for Passengers
by Matthew Zapruder

Read the automated transcript.

Like all strangers who temporarily
find themselves moving in the same direction
we look out the window
without really seeing or down at our phones
trying to catch the dying signal
then the famous lonesome whistle
so many singers have sung about
blows and our bodies shudder
soon we will pick up speed
and pass the abandoned factories
there has lately been so much conversation about
through broken windows they stare
asking for us to decide
but we fall asleep next to each other
riding into the tunnel
sharing without knowing the same dream
in it we are carrying something
an empty casket somehow so heavy
only together can we carry it
over a bridge in the snow
emerging suddenly into the light
we wake and open our laptops
or a book about murder
or a glossy magazine
though we are mostly awake
part of us still goes on solving
problems so great they cannot be named
even once we have reached our destination
and disembark into whatever weather
for a long time there is a compartment
within us filled with analog silence
inside us the dream goes on and on

“Poem for Passengers" by Matthew Zapruder. Copyright © 2019, from the forthcoming FATHER'S DAY by Matthew Zapruder. Used by Copper Canyon Press.