Sunday: Downton Abbey in the subway & Pedro Pieti’s Underground Poetry

This I like.

Somewhere in the NYC subway system, under the sign Downtown. The hierarchy still lingers, with Hugh Bonneville seeming taller than the others, but the spirit here refreshes. I love that there’s James Rob-Cellier in his duffle coat (I had a duffle coat when I lived in England and they are very warm), Anna Froggart with her beautiful long blonde hair swaying free, that Sophia McShera with a quiet smile is in the middle, and Brendan Coyle solemn. After all the characters of Downton Abbey are the driving emotional force of the series, and we love to love at least some of them.

I rode the subways for years, sometimes at 2 in the morning when I couldn’t sleep. When I attended a friend’s birthday party two years ago in May, I and a group of new friends took the subway from all the way from U Avenue to Penn Station and we had some courteous encounters. I showed one group of Hispanic people confused in a labyrinth the way. I can make my way round the subway.

For years this has been a favorite poem:

Underground Poetry

Spitting
on this platform
or other parts
of this station
is unlawful
offenders are
liable to arrest
$500 fine 6 months
in prison or both
by the dept. of health

Notice
all passengers
are forbidden
to enter upon
or cross the tracks

tormenting itch
of hemorrhoidal tissues
promptly relieved
with preparation H

If u c rd th msg
u c bkm a sec
& gt a gd jb
learn shorthand
in as little as 6 weeks

refresh your taste
with wrigley spearmint gum
you can help
stamp out hepatitis

this number
can save you
from the tragedy
of an abortion

woolite soaks more
than just sweaters clean
passengers are forbidden
to ride between trains

start fresh
with a bill payers loan
up to 1400 dollars
from household finance

Warning
subway tracks
are dangerous
if the train
stops in between
stations
stay inside
do not get out
follow
instructions
of the train crew
or police

Aviso t~n
la via del tren
subterraneo
es peligrosa
si el tren
entre estaciones
no salga
a fuera
siga las
instrucciones
de los
operidores
del tren
o la policia

Pride fear
and confusion
are stopping
five million
disabled
from getting
the help
they need
what is
stopping you?

— Pedro Pietri

For those who are born within the last 30 years, these lines are made up of signs that used to be in the train cars of the subway. They felt so degrading as one read them, or ridiculous, or useless, or scolding. But somehow strung out as poetry were transformed into something comical and well-meaning.

I had the poem in a volume called New York Poems (from which more on other Sundays), edited by Howard Moss, but it had nothing about the poets. Now with the wonderful availability of the internet for the first time I know who Pedro Pietri was, read more poems by him, see his photo reading aloud his poems.

Pedro Pietri

Sylvia