Orpheus Underground

from the “Ordinary Conjurings” poetry collection

by Odette Cortés

Today, like every day,

I wait among others for the ferryman.

Here, in the underground,

I tune my senses to signs of his coming—

the whistling of the air

the screeching of the tires

the current of electricity

coursing down our collective bodies

the endless negotiation:

push shove

push shove.

Here, in the darkness,

time turns to murky water,

an endless river more than six feet under

where humanity strips away

as we enter the city’s underbelly.

Here, I turn to Orpheus 

and cast the oldest of salvations

notes strung together 

tether my soul

to the light of ten million fireflies

that takes a shortcut into my dreams.

Old memories that run wild

to fleeting sound, lyrics and beats

push shove

push shove.

Hold on to the unbreakable thread

the tune of the living provides

for this eternal midnight

will not last forever.

push shove

push shove.

I don’t turn back

though I’m hanging for dear life

to this song. I don’t turn back

I don’t turn to dust.

I see the light at the end

of the underground

push shove

push shove.

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Odette Cortés London is a graduate student in English Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where she also teaches poetry and drama as a part-time instructor in the undergraduate program. She is concurrently pursuing a doctoral certificate in Global South Studies at Tübingen University and serves as the Directing Poetry Editor at Kinsman Quarterly. Her research focuses on anglophone Caribbean literature, with particular interest in diasporic storytelling techniques and the narrative forms that emerge from transnational experiences.