After the party, I catch the C train with Max,
and we sit next to a guy holding a cello case.
He leans on the cello case
like I’d like to lean on Max;
instead, Max leans on me
as the train slows down
and everybody tilts toward the next station.
The doors open. A tall woman with shoulder-length
gray hair walks in, carrying a cello case.
She sits down beside us, so Max and I
are sitting between two cellos,
and we’re all laughing,
and I ask if she’s been playing, and she says yes
but that’s all she says.