Reading on the Subway

When I am on a crowded train
I’d freak out, guaranteed,
Unless I had a magazine
Or book with me to read.

I tune out all the body parts
That press against my own;
And I am in my reading world,
In which I am alone.

I focus on the written words
And gobble up each story;
By doing so, I can ignore
Surrounding territory.

I catch a glimpse though, now and then,
And always am amazed
At people who just sit, with their
Expressions slack and glazed.

To me, my subway reading
Is both calming and required;
I get to where I’m going
With some knowledge I’ve acquired.

And best of all, my mind has been
Completely occupied,
So I could not obsess
On all the ways I could have died!