I’m on the train

Watching

people dissociate into their phones

but this one guy reads a book

Hardback, paper pages. 

Prima Facie

He’s in deep, the story

I can tell by his face

twitching, smiling, disbelieving 

colour rising in his cheeks.

In his urgency to turn the page

he releases the handrail 

nearly falls as the train jolts

a moment of distraction 

Then he’s back in

tongue lolling at the side of his mouth

I want to ask him if he’s seen the play

but don’t want to intrude 

on his private pleasure with the page.