see myself
early morning Harlem
entering 125th Street station
through the back on 127th
where there’s no longer a booth
with a worker inside
a young man is loitering
as I swipe at the turnstile
he threatens to cut me
and calls me a “White Pear”
confused, I look back –
“That’s right, you heard me, faggot”
I keep walking down the stairs
into the station
so, “White Pear” just means
Fruit
that day
the rest of the time on the subway
with fight-or-flight instinct on
I’m in The Warriors-mode
and weeks later
early morning Brooklyn
there is a Mass
Shooting
on the N train
a 62-year-old nationalist
puts a gas mask on, throws two smoke
grenades
and fires a handgun thirty-three times
injuring twenty-nine people
temporarily I develop
a hobby
of jumping the turnstile whenever
I don’t see any cops nearby
and it gives me an actual r u s h
Pavel Frolov
Originally from Moscow, Russia, Pavel Frolov (He/Him) is a queer-identified New York City-based performer and writer. He holds a BA in Communication from Brooklyn College. Pavel’s recent poems have appeared online in oddball magazine, Lavender Review, Elevator Stories, Ariel’s Dream, Milk Carton Press, Visible Magazine, Poetry Festival and in print anthologies from Beyond Words & Wingless Dreamer. Also, Pavel’s CNF short story “The Appetite Zone or Penny Dreadful for a Marxist” was published in MIXED MAG Issue 13 this year.
Cosmic Double 