I recently spent the week in Chicago while my Dad was in the hospital for major surgery. \u00a0Travelling back and forth from the hospital involved going about 110 blocks on two busses, from the north end of downtown to the south end of downtown. \u00a0Depending on the time of day and how long I had to wait for the busses, this trip took between one hour and 15 minutes and 2 hours and 15 minutes. \u00a0Riding the bus is a great way to observe the life of commuters and just plain folks in Chicago. \u00a0I wrote most of this poem while riding the bus. \u00a0Enjoy!<\/p>\n
Chicago Transit Authority and Me – 147 to 4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Workers<\/span> I recently spent the week in Chicago while my Dad was in the hospital for major surgery. \u00a0Travelling back and forth from the hospital involved going about 110 blocks on two busses, from the north end of downtown to the … Continue reading
\n Shoppers<\/span>
\n Students<\/span>
\n Students of life<\/span>
\n Ride the bus<\/span>
\n Make it a double!<\/span>
\n The daily double<\/span>
\n An express<\/span>
\n Oh, to the heart of civilization<\/span>
\n Such congested arteries art<\/span>
\n A tact rendering society’s very core<\/span>
\n Any falling short<\/span>
\n In efficiency<\/span>
\n Made up<\/span>
\n Even odds<\/span>
\n Run over by effectiveness<\/span>
\n Pilings of people<\/span>
\n Towering foundations<\/span>
\n Things looking up<\/span>
\n People looking down<\/span>
\n In a windy city<\/span>
\n Going bussed<\/span>
\n Reaching a critical mass<\/span>
\n Together experiencing the unspeakable<\/span>
\n Connected somewhere else<\/span>
\n Razing dreams<\/span>
\n Of brighter palms<\/span>
\n Too due lists<\/span>
\n Play lists<\/span>
\n Songs sung by someone else<\/span>
\n Left only wanting<\/span>
\n More Gigs<\/span>
\n Beating the hum drum<\/span>
\n “I pod people”<\/span>
\n “I pod people”<\/span>
\n Over and over<\/span>
\n Over and out<\/span>
\n Still<\/span>
\n Now<\/span>
\n Faster tablets<\/span>
\n The magna carta of a new millennium<\/span>
\n An ever-expanding tabula rasa<\/span>
\n Living on<\/span>
\n Cloud nein<\/span>
\n Mean wile<\/span>
\n The poor stare into their cells<\/span>
\n The porous of all<\/span>
\n A remnant grasps<\/span>
\n To trees gone by<\/span>
\n Scrawled by the prints of modernity<\/span>
\n Pulp<\/span>
\n Fiction<\/span>
\n Yesterday’s news<\/span>
\n Tomorrow’s prognostications<\/span>
\n Today’s storyteller<\/span>
\n Only lessor is<\/span>
\n Standing still to arrive<\/span>
\n The man clutching only to his bar<\/span>
\n Drinking in<\/span>
\n His river<\/span>
\n As life passes by<\/span>
\n Close enough to touch<\/span>
\n Surrounded by a stream of cars<\/span>
\n Never the same twice<\/span>
\n Day after day<\/span>
\n Some for hire<\/span>
\n Some already bought and sold<\/span>
\n Thankful to have a job<\/span>
\n Washing windows in the rain<\/span>
\n Making umbrellas while it suns<\/span>
\n Trafficking in<\/span>
\n The city<\/span>
\n Flashy lights tell us what to do<\/span>
\n And what not to do<\/span>
\n Saying when<\/span>
\n Hoping to get off<\/span>
\n Before it is too late<\/span>
\n Surveying<\/span>
\n A single bird<\/span>
\n Twittering<\/span>
\n Nothing to see here<\/span>
\n Don’t flip out<\/span>
\n Dreading a park<\/span>
\n Backs to the shoreline<\/span>
\n Fending off the source<\/span>
\n From still waters<\/span>
\n Of a nameless state<\/span>
\n Well<\/span>
\n Beyond the horizon<\/span>
\n Sales trimmed<\/span>
\n Passed what you can’t afford<\/span>
\n Not too due<\/span>
\n Drive on, fare people!<\/span>
\n Fear not what you miss<\/span>
\n For there comes an other<\/span>
\n Echoing in eternity<\/span>
\n Dozens of stories<\/span>
\n To be tolled<\/span>
\n Countless more<\/span>
\n To be ridden<\/span>
\n Far too many<\/span>
\n On a shelf<\/span>
\n A mobile library<\/span>
\n Where audience and author<\/span>
\n Miss unparalleled appointments<\/span>
\n I’s that seldom meet<\/span>
\n Idle business<\/span>
\n Wasted time for sum<\/span>
\n A riders’ workshop for others<\/span>
\n So many blocks<\/span>
\n So few children to play with<\/span>
\n Un-no-ing<\/span>
\n Silently groan up<\/span>
\n Wonting to be scene<\/span>
\n Not herd<\/span>
\n With plenty of space to ponder<\/span>
\n Who is passing who?<\/span>
\n Encyclical roll reversals<\/span>
\n At times<\/span>
\n Like<\/span>
\n A living museum<\/span>
\n Enriching the observer<\/span>
\n In the presents<\/span>
\n Of the seeming mortified<\/span>
\n Weather paying a tension or not<\/span>
\n Life will take you places<\/span>
\n Each doing the bus they can<\/span>
\n Out look<\/span>
\n Fare to excellent<\/span>
\n Many more waiting<\/span>
\n On the streets<\/span>
\n To be<\/span>
\n Or not to be<\/span>
\n Full, filled<\/span>
\n Contracting countless riders<\/span>
\n From ashes to ashes<\/span>
\n From dust to dust<\/span>
\n Only to return to where we came from<\/span>
\n It’s enough to make won<\/span>
\n A little loopy<\/span>
\n Accept to know<\/span>
\n That one<\/span>
\n Awe ready<\/span>
\n Has arrived<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"