Winners

Category #1

Air Quality

Joan Vollero

Blast of Icy air
Sweet relief on sticky day
Platforms need AC

Category #2

Subway Train Conditions: So called Sound System, the door that shut in my face...

What Was That?
Ameena Rodriguez

It doesn't matter the time of the day.
I fall asleep on the train, most likely on the A.
A hard jolt suddenly awakes me.
What stop am I at? With all the people standing, It's hard to see.
The train is completely at a still.
But, there is no time to kill.
Just then the announcer comes on.
To everyone, it sounds like a mixed up song.
What? What is he or she saying?
C'mon, is this person informing or praying?
I ask the girl next to me if she understands.
She shrugs her shoulders and her hands.
Like everyone else, I need to get to where I'm going.
But the words above are not coming out right, not flowing.
Finally, some parts of the message can be understood.
The announcer says, Red light...move when we could.
I close my eyes and as frustrating as it may be,
I lay my head back again and set my mind free.

Category #3

Service: Subway that never came, non-existent subway station in my neighborhood...

SUBWAY PASTORAL
Corie Feiner

I have never used a compass, but when the wind
pushes the flap of a cigarette box the train
is two stops away.

I have told time from the sun only twice, but when light
moves along the track like long blond arms I say,
this is it.

I have never spooned soil with my thumb, but the sound
of an unclasping buckle, then the four beats
of a metal drum means the first car is about to emerge.

I have never hunted, but it takes
one hundred and eighty-three steps to walk the field
of this platform, sixteen steps

to go up this staircase, seventeen
to come down. The wrong train
has come twice

in my direction, the right train
three times, in the opposite, and I have had visions
of car wheels and buses,

and standing on the corner of Union Square with my hand
lifted in the air. I hear the squawk
of a turnstile above me and I want to say,

Sit by me, and when the N train arrives,
don't leave. I am waiting for the R.

Category #4

Route Diversions

Michael Schwartz

I was on the F train
and the F became the V!
The V became the D
the D became the Q
the Q became the 2
the 2 became the 1
the 1 became the 3
the 3 became the G
the G became the J
the J became the B
is it the B or not the B?
That is the congestion.
Had to pay
to spend the day
all the way
out of my way
to find my way
through the city subway
to the one and only station
somewhat near my destination
that will lift me to the street
even though I'm in this seat
that rolls on wheels which are my feet
I'm dancin' the dance of disability
prayin' to the power of poetry
dreaming of accessibility
singin' to the rhythm of the clack of the track
I made it through the tunnel I can never go back
I refuse to fall through that hungry gap
between the platform and this plaintive rap

Category #5

Station Conditions: "No need for a gym. I lug the baby up and down the stairs," dirty floors, stairwells... people can write about anything related to s'way conditions

Tony Lombardi

AS I GAZE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT DARK HALLS WITH SCORES
OF LIGHT SPRINKLED DIM ALONG THEIR PATH AND THE SOUNDS

LIKE HORSEMEN FULL OF WRATH
SNAKE HOLE CHANNELS WIP SNAP UNDERNEATH ANOTHER WORLD
JUST BELOW THE OTHER WORLD BUT SO MUCH IT'S OWN
TRAVELLIN UNDER THE STREETS CONNECTING LINES LIKE A
MAZE
FILTERING OUT BACK WASH THROUGH CROWDS OF PURPLE HAZE
THE CLOCK OF REASON HAS STOPED THE SEASONS GO BY LIKE
A FENCE.PEOPLE SCATTER SCURRY HURRY LIKE ANTS IN AN
EXPERIMENT NOT GONE WRONG.
HEAR THAT SONG HE'S HERE EVERYDAY SO MUCH TO SAY
WISH YOU COULD STAY
LARGE CROWDS START TO BUILD, I CAME DOWN HERE TO GET
AWAY
FROM THE TRAFFIC! FEEL THAT BREEZE SMELL THAT SLEEZE
IN A FEW SECONDS IT'S GONNA BE LIKE BOTH TEAMS LEAVING
THE BENCH BLENDING TOGETHER BUT JUST PASSIN THROUGH
LETTERS AND COLORS AND SOME MUFFLED VOICES THAT SOUND
LIKE CHARLIE BROWNS' TEACHER. HOW CAN I READ THE MAP
IF I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING.
DOES ANYBODY WORK HERE?
THE WEEKEND JOKE IS THAT YOU SHOULD WORK THE WEEK
PROBABLY GET THERE FASTER RUNNIN THE STREETS.
I WANNA GIVE MY MONEY TO A PERSON! IS THIS MIC ON?
THERE ARE MORE BOUNCERS IN A BAR THAN COPS ON A TRAIN
THE GREAT NEW YORK CITY SUBWAY; GET OUT OF THE RAIN.

Category #6

Positive Feedback--"I love the MTA!"

WHAT I THINK WHEN I RIDE THE TRAIN
Hettie Jones

I'm in a subway
under words
an image train
on a sound track

a level below the
tongue that twists
into lures like effort
and slouch
Still, this must mean
when I ride the train
that I'm thinking we're all
in it

that's what I'd like
to think I'm thinking
when I ride the train

that we're in it
together, that

we're in this thing
together

Category #7

Best Other Poem

If the Shoe Fits...
Barbara Gould

The MTA is not solely to blame
for the problems that straphangers face;
commuters also need to bear the shame
for their lack of basic social grace.

If we all could follow the simple rules
that can teach the public how to behave,
and remember the etiquette taught in elementary schools,
unless you grew up in a cave.

If you haven't the time to put on your make-up
after your early-morning dashes,
why not just set your alarm for an earlier wake-up,
so I don't have to watch you curl your eyelashes.

If your hunger pangs or bagel prompt you to nibble
while standing right over my head,
please try to refrain because you're bound to dribble
your coffee and crumbs of bread.

If you feel the need to litter and spit
for whatever reason there might be,
why not remind yourself that's where people sit,
and do not do that to me!

If the subway doors open wide
in order to let people enter,
why not simply step inside,
and move yourself to the center?

If this opus would only give riders inspiration
our rides would be more pleasurable.
So, keep riding with MTA, avoid consternation,
And the benefits would be immeasurable.