“I just need help,” the homeless man announces to the train
And, somehow, to himself as well.
And everybody cares,
Though no one makes a move.

“I just need help.” He mumble-shouts again his one refrain.
And everybody sees his hell,
Despite our downward stares.
But how can we improve

His plight when I still can’t afford both surgery and food,
And you live drowned in college debt
And she just froze her eggs
For when the rent hikes stop?

“I just need help,” he tries once more. Our eyes stay navel-glued.
We want to fill his need and yet
Just what’s the help he begs
For? Should we call a cop?

We know the way that that has gone before.
We know he’d simply suffer even more.
We know he’s not what cops are really for.
We hope we’re wrong, but we just see no choice,
Except to steel our ears against his voice
And, staidly silent, mourn inside
As though he had already died.

*****

‘The Subway 2023’ was first published in The Lyric. Benjamin Cannnicott Shavitz writes:

1. The entire poem is in iambs. 
2. Every line rhymes with at least one other line.
3. In the first four stanzas, the rhyme scheme is ABCDABCD repeated twice. 
4. In each of the first four stanzas, the line lengths are as follows: line 1: seven feet; line 2: four feet; line 3: three feet; line 4: three feet. 
5. In the last stanza, the rhyme scheme is AAABBCC. 
6. In the last stanza, the line lengths are as follows: lines 1-5: five feet each, lines 6-7: four feet each. 
7. Points (3)-(6) create a pattern in which any lines that rhyme are of the same length as each other. 
   
   “Some background about my approach to form:
   I received my PhD in linguistics last year and I have been using my knowledge of language structure and the math background I have from my undergraduate engineering studies to innovate and sometimes re-conceptualize form in poetry. As I’m sure you know, the past century has seen a massive decline in knowledge of how form works in general. What you may be less aware of is that that same period has seen major developments in linguistics that can be brought in to expand our understanding of form. Most people know nothing about form anymore and the few people who do are working with an understanding that, while based on a lot of sound information, would benefit from being updated by the last century’s developments in linguistics research. There is an expansive future for formal verse ahead of us if we not only revive interest in form but also recognize that we are still learning about it. Form is not just tradition. It is an aspect of nature and there is a lot more we haven’t done with it yet. There is an essay in the back of two of my books that deals with the way formal verse and its history have been mischaracterized by proponents of free verse, I have developed a short course for teaching formal verse writing from a linguistically informed perspective, and I hope to use my academic knowledge (and credentials) to provide further support for the revival and expansion of formal verse in the future.”

Benjamin Cannicott Shavitz is a writer and linguistics scholar whose studies in language have led him to a great enthusiasm for formal poetry. He lives in Manhattan, New York City and received his PhD in linguistics from the Graduate Center at The City University of New York. He has published two collections of his own poetry (Levities and Gravities), as well as an anthology of poems by New York City poets from throughout history (Songs of Excelsior). His work has also been published in The Lyric, The Fib Review, and the journal of The Society of Classical Poets. See www.kingsfieldendeavors.com/writing for links to his writing. 

Photo: “Homeless in the subway” by phrenologist is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.