At the train station ticket desk

Thank you

for this ticket

I hold it in great esteem

though you pushed it quite roughly through the slot

you acquiesced,

completed my request with an exasperated ease

which prompted me to say ‘please’

too many times to grease the wheel

for I was eager to appease as

for me this interaction has such transactional appeal

I’ve got exactly what I needed from you

Did you feel it too?

I can’t help but think it unrequited

but I’ll keep coming back here

In spite of the machines

because when I press their buttons

I don’t get to feel

that old familiar human sting of being

a pain just for existing, of being in the way

and I’d rather feel that once a day

than feel nothing.