Things I Have Mistaken for the Sound of the G Train Coming

By Kristin Iversen

1. The A train
2. The C train
3. The F train
4. A pigeon trapped in the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station
5. A rat running down the tracks
6. A man with a singular cough
7. A fly buzzing too closely to my ear
8. My pulse pounding when the panic about how late I’m going to be AGAIN becomes palpable
9. A little boy screaming PENIS!
10. A little girl barreling down the platform on a scooter
11. A stroller that’s bigger than a car bumping down the stairwell
12. A pack of teens, walking no louder than a herd of elephants, but no more quietly either
13. Someone—a real-life hero—tearing a Batman vs Superman poster of the wall and crumpling it up
14. In the distance, more and more distinctly, snoring
15. The crackle of the PA system before a voice announces that a G train has just arrived one station away
16. The garbage train