Lost Between the Lines

Between steel
and steel
and electric rail

Toothy Rat grumbles

like an old Jew

and kicks a crushed water bottle

and spits on a smoldering cigarette butt

and shoves aside Stephanie's

hand-scrawled

purple-gel-pen

loop-the-loop

epistle

all smiles

and i's dotted with pink

love lost

between the Green and Orange lines

lost between the gravel and gum wrappers

and more human hair
than any human dares

imagine

and Toothy Rat stomps

his grimy foot

and Toothy Rat shakes

his gnarled paw

and Toothy Rat swears

in ratty words

so vile his whiskers smolder.

Then he hooks his naked tail

over his arm

like a walking cane

and sets his chin

and strides

from Clark station

to the theatre district.