On the train the woman standing

One of the most critical symbols in the poem is the “[t]he space next to the man” (Line 5). At different moments, this space is described as “the pause in a conversation” (Line 5) for the speaker, “more like breath than wonder” (Line 9) for the man. To the poet, the space seems to represent the “fear” (Line 6) the man brings to the white passengers, who avoid sitting next to him wherever he goes. The speaker, who is implied to be a Black woman, can sit “in proximity” (Line 13) to the man, reinforcing the meaning of the space as representative of white people’s fear. This is also affirmed later in the poem, as the speaker describes how “Where he goes the space follows him” (Line 15) and if the man left, the speaker could stop “struggl[ing] against the unoccupied seat when where why the space won’t lose its meaning” (Line 17). The attachment of the space as representative of fear is consistent for the man, who experiences this physical dynamic in all public places. The speaker’s “struggle against” (Line 17) the seat relates to the precise location of the man and the space; it is the public space and the white person’s fear that create the space’s meaning.