Michael Garrad

Pandemonium

How underground

is The Underground?

Hiding in dashing throng,

Rush Hour in the morning,

Tense,

Rush Hour in the evening,

Easy,

Tide of cramped people

in artificial light,

Deep, metal on metal,

Clatter,

Burst of hot, aged air,

Electrifying,

Bodies in the silver tomb

jostle for unopened door,

Pouring onto platform

as a dam would burst,

Flooding, uncontrolled,

to the ticket barriers,

Swarming upward, outward,

Man against woman,

Woman against children,

Man against pandemonium,

To the surface,

Gasping for oxygen,

Hamburger in the chaos,

Edgware Road at last!

Impatient cars,

London buses stopping,

Traffic jam,

Would South Kensington

have been any better?

© Michael Garrad November 2011