To be clear, this poem is not an attack on my classmates (and not-exactly-classmates, as I’ll discuss) or the bus driver who diligently gets us to college and back in the mornings and evenings. Instead, it is a discussion of the many failings which occur when you force two year groups from two colleges (four year groups in total) onto one bus during lockdown and COVID restrictions. Think of it more as an expression of emotion, rather than a formal letter of complaint – and enjoy!
Thoughtless
So close that arms touch arms,
covered only by black waterproof jackets
and breath, hot, hits necks
and cloth masks–but I can’t believe
that fabric keeps us all so safe
in this tin cocoon of teenage bodies
forced to stand, pressed together,
and required to hold onto thick black rubber
or yellow studded poles, then moving
as the driver yells, “back, back!”,
so other fingers capture their prints
on the metal, on the rubber,
as the air grows ever hotter
and the doors hiss open yet again, to let
more and more students board–
until they gasp against the glass,
students from two years, two colleges,
becoming a circus attraction
for pedestrians to gawp at, bug-eyed,
as the bus rattles on and they all wonder:
“Where has this pandemic gone?”
But they, none, are at fault;
herded back into education without a thought
for how they will all arrive at a building
surrounded by farmers’ fields, drowning
in mud and cows, where suited professionals state:
“We are monitoring the situation–no action needed.”
But I sit here, in this bursting vehicle
and struggle to breathe around complete strangers.
All for want of just one more bus.
Enjoyed the poem? Why not check out Our Paused World or Aleatory Poetry?
(They’re my poetry collections! Available on Amazon!)
Oskar Leonard 