Love Poem for
a Train Attendant

My first day of work
I went in the wrong direction.
Your horror when I asked to go
to the previous station.
I got off at the next
and you didn't charge me.
It was summer
in the middle of nowhere
suburbs on either side.
Grass crackled along the tracks
mixed with birds, sun and cicadas.
Every morning you'd take my ticket
and I'd feel my cheeks turn pink.