When my underground train stopped in the tunnel

I saw the word needless

Painted on the wall above the cables

The carriage was crowded

But no-one else noticed it

Which puzzled me

 

Two girls were living together in an apartment

They loved each other

But they loved music more intensely

Quite often the taller girl

Would sit at a piano and play

The smaller girl who was working too hard

Would sit back and close her eyes

 

In a short-dream between stations

I dreamt that I was running down a narrow lane

Towards a busy main road

The lane was enclosed by red brick walls

Much weathered

 

In the seats opposite me

Two nuns are reading Nabokov’s Lolita

They are a mother and daughter

And are being punished by the church

For sharing the same lover