f train to Roosevelt Island
art by Trevor Cunnington
by J. Y. Zhang
in black tunnels the world slows to molasses
everything subsonic, the yellow lights drunk and feverish
flickering across the rusted tracks
you—a knife through the city again
blue dot blinking then gone
cutting through, putting distance:
velocity in your tongue and smoke
in your unwashed hair
urine on the tiles, the soles of your feet
the fact of motion is simple:
you are headed somewhere
or your body is—
but there’s a moment on the line
when twin trains run parallel
& it’s like you’re going nowhere, love
you haven’t even left the station
J. Y. Zhang codes by day, writes by night, and doomscrolls Reddit in the hours between. Their fiction and poetry has appeared in The /tƐmz/ Review, Small Wonders, Fusion Fragment, and elsewhere. Find them online at jyzhang.ca.
Trevor Cunnington, a multifaceted creator residing in Toronto, seamlessly
intertwines his roles as a writer, artist, and educator. His literary
journey has been marked by contributions to esteemed publications,
including “Vita Poetica”, “Poetry Lighthouse, BlazeVox”, and “God's Cruel
Joke“ where his evocative poems have found a home. Trevor's artistic vision extends beyond the written word, with his art gracing the pages of “Word For/Word, Marrow“ “Inlandia, “and “Cerasus.“
