poem of the day 09.16.11

if i were this bus driver

if i were this bus driver
i wouldn’t be standing here now

coming home late from work again
carrying two bottles of wine
on another packed, rush hour cattle car

smelling some fat woman’s crotch sweat
as she screams into her cell phone

or i wouldn’t be dodging
little mexican day laborers
as they fight each other for seats

if i were this bus driver
i wouldn’t be looking at that tired woman’s legs

the one who knows that she’s getting older
but still seems pretty well put together

the one who keeps looking around
thinking that some single man
is going to give her his seat
whenever she shakes her ass

(okay maybe i’d give her my seat
provided i ever got a seat that is)

if i were this bus driver right now
i’d be sitting in the front of the bus with the radio on

telling people to get behind the white line
unless they wanted to crash through the front window
if the bus is forced to stop

i’d be in charge of this whole motherfucking thing

wearing reflector sunglasses
so that all of these plebeians knew who was boss

of course, i’d still be at work
and i’d be dealing with brooklyn traffic

i wouldn’t be on my way home
to drink this wine and sit on the couch
with the radio on

but if i were this bus driver
i wouldn’t be here now dealing
with loud teenagers fighting over phones

or being forced to listen to this man’s metal music
coming out of the asshole’s earbuds

i wouldn’t want to strangle that kid
who keeps kicking my bottles and crying

i wouldn’t be late for this or that
but would keep to a schedule that mostly works for me

i’d have a better salary and pension

maybe an apartment where the bugs
didn’t come through the cracks in the floor

and the flies didn’t come through
the rips in the screens

if i were only this bus driver
i think that maybe my life would be
a little bit better

even if i had to wear that stupid uniform

or work third shift

or put up with all of these people
sweating and angry and crowded together

if i were this bus driver
i’d be a separate entity from the hoi polloi

i’d rise above it

autonomous
independent
magnificent.