Strangers on the train

unrequited connections

By Ashley McMahonPublished about a year ago • Updated 11 months ago • 1 min read

I keep trying to make eye contact

with strangers on the train—

maybe we’ll connect,

silently smile,

awkwardly look away.

I wonder—

what did you think when our eyes met?

Are you like me?

Starved for connection,

shrinking from the smallest rejections—

even the ones I only imagine.

And yet,

the pull to know the people around me

outgrows my instinct to stay invisible.

So every now and then,

I look through the smoke between us

and hope to find

a kindred soul.

Aspiring writer, lackadaisical poet, disappointed idealist, formerly gifted child.

Trying to unlearn the lie of wasted potential.

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