Metro Musicians

—for Chino & Abel

One slung guitar, one funky velvet hat

They ride the Metro underground

Nothing back home but a cold-water flat

The shy one grins, a timid cat

Fingertips plucking, sucking sound

From his guitar; his friend’s funky hat

Hangs in the air, a pesky gnat

Buzzing a song, bouncing around

Reaping the rent for a cold-water flat

The singer kneels down by a young girl’s lap

Her eyes resist, but her smile unfrowns

One slung guitar, one funky velvet hat

Once their song ends, the passengers clap

Coins feed the hat like rain from a cloud

Not drips in a drain of a cold-water flat

I, too, contribute a clink to their sack

I riding trains all day through town

No slung guitar, no old funky hat

And nothing—no home, not even a flat

2River View, 2009