A giant harness wrapped around the roof
and, before I knew it, a mechanical arm
tore it out of the ground, taking with it
every fingerprint smudge from past
journeys across a faded map.
It took every timetable squint,
every smug on-time passenger look,
every late comer For fuck’s sake.
It took all the small talk and the no talk
and the please stop talking
and the let me know if you want to talk
and the wish we could really talk
and it just took it – bang –
and replaced it with a fresh start.

© Carl Burkitt 2020