Ode to the City Bus 

Ode to the City Bus 

Ride the bus
The city bus
We ride the bus for fun
Take it to the park
To the museum
For a really good time
Take the B48
Not to get anyplace
But for its own sake
Look out the window
That isn’t snow
It’s the ice they throw
From the fish shop‬
On the sidewalk
And the steps of stoops
of brownstones
Those old neon signs
Lighting people walking by
Sometimes you sit on the left
of the bus
Other times sit on the right
Or else you won’t see half the sights
The city sliding past outside
And at night,
After you’ve turned out the lights,
You think about the buses flashing
Rolling along down the route
Past the library branch
The domes of the sewage treatment plant
Four hundred billion millimeters
Underneath the moon

 

Elliot Sperber is a writer, attorney, and adjunct professor. He lives in New York City and can be reached at elliot.sperber@gmail.com and on twitter @elliot_sperber