 
 The Busby Lucia Chambers
 

                        It lumbers slowly up the Avenue,
                        gushing deisel, gassy black clouds,
                        up one gear, pause, up another, up
                        then swagger; sway into the gutter,
                        stop. 
                        Exhale.
                        The doors swing open.
                        
                        Belly-loadful of hats and boxes
                        step down, sneakers stomp, pumps flat,
                        onto steps, then pavement; 
                        another anxious group counts change
                        and deposits,
                        clink clink! they go up the steps again.
                        It sags once more, and 
                        belches.
                        The doors swing closed.
                        
                        Up one gear, pause, up another, up
                        then swagger; sway into the street,
                        a profile of faces and newspapers,
                        no bodies, just heads floating 
                        inside half-open windows, 
                        a flick of newspaper visible,
                        a face turned the other way;
                        the heat rushes in,
                        the black clouds gush out
                        again.
                        
                        Inside, "DO NOT CROSS LINE" appears wrong
                        and the fare machine gurgles on,
                        and on 
                        in front of a sickly green cave of seats.
                        Up those heads float, stagger
                        and sway into the aisle, while their host
                        gushes menacingly through traffic
                        on the Avenue, up a gear,
                        up another, a noisy continuously moving 
                        digestive process
                        of gasses, 
                        coins and bodies,
                        pavement and gears.
                        
                                 -end-
                 Copyright (c) 1992 by Lucia Chambers
