Outskirts

Below the street,
the subway station
echoes
with the haunting
wails
of a saxophone
playing
Amazing Grace.

A girl shuffles up
& down
the platform
shaking a cup,
asking
for change.

Gaunt
with hallowed
eyes,
a veneer of skin
covers
a skeleton.

She says she has AIDS.
She begs to live.

A poster on the wall reads:
‘Take the train to the plane’.
It’s an escape to the suburbs,
to anywhere,
out of sight,
out of mind.