The 6:58 a.m.
train from
Jamaica, Queens to
Hewlett,
Long Island...
There is actually a sign near the Jamaica train station (
Sutphin Blvd. and
Archer Ave.) that reads "Jamaica
Industrial Zone". The sign is surrounded by tens of ramshackle, uninhabited grey buildings, probably
warehouses. Also, an outdoor plant at which a machine can be seen churning some sort of
slag. Incidentally, the plant is not visible from the street. As such, it
is visible from the train track.
Within a radius of a few blocks there is a
livestock market- possibly a vibrant point of life at a less
god-forsaken hour, but at 6:58 the only movement to be seen is the arm of the above-mentioned machine, rising and falling in a huge tub of grey matter.
Grey buildings, grey slag, grey streets, grey sky- before
sunrise everything is grey. In the right mood the
monochrome is
beautiful, if in nothing else than the
ambiguity of its everpresent sentiment.
And then by 7:20 I am in nouveau riche Hewlett Bay Park, where the teenagers I pass carry around purple or green or blue heads of hair in a laughable attempt to look urban.