On the subway home
two boys run into a girl
they once knew, on the train.
One says
“Ask her if she broke up with Kevin!”
(And they do).
She says she has and they ask why
and she shrugs a sigh
and boy one asks
if it was another girl
and boy two, if her sister
had to do with it
and she looks down
and says nothing.

They mention the food at her school
“It’s good” they’ve heard.
“How much?” they say.
She says “Thirty,”
and they say, “Per day?”
And she says “Thousand.
Per year,”
and all of a sudden it is clear
that they come from similar places
but went on different paths
so they stumble over what else to ask
though they look so tough
they want to know who had enough
to send her off and shortly she’s gone
in a trance of headphoned thoughts.

They laugh anxiously.

I sigh, hoping that this doesn’t mean
they won’t try to struggle through
whatever it is that made them sad
enough to ask a girl they barely knew
if the food was good

or if someday they could be understood,

not as rude,

just hungry,

for a real chance.