This is another bus piece. I scribbled this on the bus today pretty much as you find it below. The woman I mention is on southbound 830 bus that picks up at UVSC at 9:53 AM every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She rides to the mall transit station to start driving her own route for UTA. I think I'll start riding the bus that comes 15 minutes later...
---
the mouths on the bus
tend to stay shut
in the universal language
of public transport
except for the woman
who’s cranky if she
doesn’t get at least seven hours
and prefers to have Thursdays
and Fridays off and knows that
new medicine saves more lives
than it kills even though when
someone goes is always up the
Man upstairs while she
cradles the American flag kitsch
with a shoulder strap on
her lap
carrying on her
conversation with the
driver from her seat
in the middle of the bus
how she hears his
responses over the
gasping moan of
the space heater
and engine
and air brakes
I’ll never know
but I could know
what she suffered
months years decades ago
that moves her mouth
in environs that keep
all others shut
and thus
discover discomfort
among my uncomfort
that is
if I’d stop moving my pen
and unshut my mouth
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3 comments:
Wow, Ethan, those were both great. You're a poet and I didn't knowet.
That is why I love riding the bus--you hear details about people's lives that you don't really want to know. You learn about the latest conspiracy theories, who's sick, why people are late, etc. It's great. It's why I know that the REAL George W. Bush is actually being held hostage in Russia. What I love is hearing people on their cell phones saying, "I'm at (fill in the blank)" and knowing that they are actually lying about their location. I hear that all the time on campus or elsewhere.
Hey I tagged both of you. Go to my blog for the directions!
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