South Temple Pedestrian Underpass
Some griefs bless us that way, not asking much space.
-Laure-Anne Bosselaar
Some nights the south side access is open,
the north blocked,
so, I linger, half-trapped in the passage, wait
for traffic overhead
to rattle me back to subway platforms past.
By now
my kid could’ve been
older than the four boys scootering loops
and whooping
down the length of the tunnel—Hey, lady,
watch this! For a few minutes
I clap for them as they spin,
cringe when they skid along the concrete floor,
before I resurface
and they stay
howling underground.
Jamie L. Smith
Jamie L. Smith is the author of "The Flightless Years", forthcoming from Finishing Line Press (November 2024). Her chapbook "Mythology Lessons" was winner of the Tusculum Review's 2020 Nonfiction Prize and is listed as notable in Best American Essays 2021. Her poetry, nonfiction, and hybrid works appear in publications including Southern Humanities Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Red Noise Collective, and anthologies by Indi(e) Blue, Allegory Ridge, and Beyond Queer Words. Please visit jlsmithwriter.com for more information.