James Richardson is the author of numerous poetry collections, including
Within the Hour: Poems and Aphorisms, 1971–2026 (Copper Canyon Press, 2026), By the Numbers: Poems and Aphorisms, and During, winner of the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award. Among his honors are the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Emily Dickinson Award, and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and is Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at Princeton University.

Emergency Measures

by James Richardson

I take Saturday’s unpopulated trains,
sitting at uncontagious distances,
change at junctions of low body count, in off-hours,
and on national holidays especially, shun stadia
and other zones of efficient kill ratio,
since there is no safety anymore in numbers.

People on couch
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