Northbound #23 Bus (Old Indian Trail #2)

Shot myself—clown from circus cannon—

past graybeards, super-8 students, proud

TV refugees—out makeshift movie hall doors—

cold black night hit my face! around—spun—

my solo jubilant Fellini mood—

along blank Lombard—racing the stars—

past St. Peter Claver’s—poor church ghost!

Can’t miss my bus! Taxis? I don’t trust.

On board, I scrunched behind the driver’s

perch—my droopy eyes snapped open

with each door, marked each night-owl stagger,

shuffle, strut—part-time, flex-time survivors—

I’m better? The “articulate” token?

Nomad startup in my own birthplace? Swagger?

Never! Back to my arty misery—Somebody

vandalized my toilet—warehouse of history!

Thirty years gone—not quite back to home base—

wrecked from the git-go—two stiff-necked teens

choking each other with my first breath—

Here’s Chinatown! Blink—it’s gone! The chase,

always shifting, between assault and defense—

pitfalls, potholes, expressways, or stealth—

Wasn’t this the longest trolley ride

in the world? The world! But a tide

of money rushed in, ripped up tenements,

used-up mansions, and the Black bars shuttered,

jazz scattered, motley vermin stretched survival

like taffy, side by side took up residence

with the Lord’s storefront prayer—guttered,

many a song caught gin’s revival

on the downbeat, many a drum knocked

the sting from a devil kiss—white dust rocked—

Stop! That wasn’t my pain. A Dean’s List carpool

drudge. Back then, an Uptown deejay held the spark—

but when real riot flared, he cooled them down!

Brand-new century—stuffed with old-school

habits—my students thought Heathcliff was Black

when I taught the Heights—Commune-bound—

iced out—wrong password—but whose?

Subtitles—out of sync—rocket bus blues!

Notes:

Route 23 bus, at 13.8 miles in each direction, was the longest and busiest bus route in the Philadelphia public transit system. Most of the route followed an old Indian trail and epitomized the cultural diversity of the city from South Philadelphia’s immigrant past through the gentrifying streets of Center City (displacing remnants of the famed Black 7th Ward), then Chinatown, then urban renewal’s Yorktown, expansive Temple University (in the midst of economically depressed North Philadelphia), through the colonial gems of Germantown and Mt. Airy and, finally, to upscale suburban Chestnut Hill.

Source: Poetry (July/August 2022)