What is this difference between private and public verse? We were on a train—we were on many trains—and I remember the spell of Ngoma’s voice clearing away the clutter; it began the space; Samantha and Elana reciting Lucille Clifton in dual-voice began the space.I have been on NYC subways when the last thing I’ve wanted to do is acknowledge the humanity of the person next to me.Poetry is not for subways; it is better left in closed books:I have felt this way too many times, and yet, once in a while, I’ve crossed the field.Empathy is a poem on the Q Train.It’s the woman who takes off her headphones after Jon finishes and suggests a line.This is the strangest and most profound kind of revision:to give the poem as offering on a moving surface and then to receive—laughter, recognition, light. It was my second time as a PUP poet.I watched as Marcy snuck up from her seat and...