Deep Beneath The City/Not There Yet (From "In Transit")

Deep beneath the city
With a thousand other strangers
Packed like driven cattle
Speeding through a maze
Rattling and lurching
Reading poetry in motion
A muffled speaker tells us
To expect delays

Shit

Sorry

Excuse me

Hold the door

Wait!

I should've hailed a cab

Edits to the contract are due

Did I forget my phone?

That construction is new

Monthly pass

Late for class

Kiss my ass

Oh my god

God, I hope my unemployment claim comes through

Why did I wear these heels?

Gotta make my quota this week

Where in the hell's the train?

This aroma's unique

I'm so late

Ten oh eight

Hate the wait

Don't they know

That I got places that

I need to go

But I'm not there yet
I'm not there yet

Still

Five

Nine

Twelve

Ten

Forty-six
Minutes away
On the F

On the R

On the friggin' A

Have to get where I

Have to get
But I'm not there yet!

Excuse me -

Ouch!

A seat!

Is that lady pregnant or fat?

I think -

Another route?

Hey! Don't eye me like that!
What a sleaze

C'mon, please

If I squeeze

Holy crap!

Crap, why is the seat all wet where I just sat?

I wish I knew the time

Where is this audition?

A-choo!

Did I just miss my stop?

Thanks, I don't want the flu

Meet the goal

Grab the pole

No control

MTA

I'm goin' somewhere
And you're

In my way, 'cause

I'm not there yet
I'm not there yet
Still

Three

Five

Nine

Eight

Thirteen
Minutes so far

Underground on a track in a crowded car
Til I get where I

Have to get
But I'm not there yet

How long until

I can do
What I dreamed I would do
I would do for a living?

And how long 'til

I can love who I love
And my world is forgiving?

I thought by now

I'd be back on my feet
And I'd be where I need to be

Instead I'm packed with strangers

Riding the uptown

Downtown D

Crosstown E

Local G

Ladies and gentlemen,
Due to train traffic ahead we are being momentarily held.

Fuck!

Gotta deal with the fact that
I'm not the one drivin'
Gotta tune out the world
As a means of survivin'
Not at home, not at play, not at work, not in bed
Not asleep, not awake, not alive and not dead
Not in place but still not moving ahead

Eight million souls so busy rushing around
Blind to the beauty of the moment
And deaf to the sound
Of the polyrhythmic melody
The multilayered harmony
The everchanging symphony
Of life underground
Where together we ride, and together we wait
In a tiny metal room as we zoom toward our fate
And we stress on the express, and we bitch and we moan
In an unnatural proximity, together but alone
Eight million souls race to their destinations
In this limbo life we live between stations

No I'm not there!
Why am I not there yet?
Just

Two

One

Four

Six

Seventeen
Minutes from here

But the track and the map and my route's not clear

Will I get where I have to get?

I'm not there

Not there

Not there
I'm

Deep beneath the city
With a thousand other strangers!