train travel

Therese

watsonia train
packed full of warm bodies
fitting the sizes around each other
like trying to fit the different shapes
of a jigsaw puzzle, an elbow here,
a corner there, a large blob fills
that space

but all careful not to touch

smell of smoke,
deodorised armpits,
undeodorised armpits,
raw food, foot odour rising
carbon dioxide accumulating

the next step in
human evolution
is photosynthesis
turning poison
into oxygen

each stop purges a few more
the puzzle reshaped and refitted

still, all careful not to touch