transference
two subway cars pass each other
at equal speed
in opposite directions.
the reaction:   just for
a moment, my reflection
in her car, and hers in mine.
we trade places, she finds herself
reading poetry 
on the billboards, I find myself 
staring at a magazine.
by next stop:  back in 
my own, (the conductor's call
or brighter light.
I want to look at my hands 
in case of newsprint evidence, 
her fingerprints
where mine should be
but I'm still looking up
at a Pat Lowther poem.
not understanding
just studying words like nature
in a land I've never seen