The Driver

I am taking a poetry class and we had to close our eyes as our professor described a scene outside and we had to imagine a sound and scene and then write a poem about it. This is what was created

The Driver

 

A hot summer day

Mid July on a Wednesday

Air thick, waves rippling off the engines

 

The driver, with dark stains under his arms rolls down his window

Damning the broken air conditioning

And the cheap men in suit who refuse to fix it

 

He opens the door to a mother and her screaming child

He stares straight ahead fighting a sigh

 

The mother with the young boy takes a seat in the middle of the bus

And tries to soothe the boy with empty promises of ice cream

The boy with lips puckered suddenly calms

And wipes the sweat off his brow

 

Doors open

 

Young girl, 15 or so, smacking her gun

Sarcasm and teenage angst oozing out of her

Wearing clothes her father must have protested

Before he was met with “but it’s hot out” and an eye roll

She sits in the back of the bus, just like she does on her way to school

 

Doors open

 

An older woman,

 who takes too much pride in her fading appearance to let the weather control her wardrobe

Dressed to the nines, face painted, and handbag in tow

Looks to the girl in the back and the mother in the middle and sighs,

Refusing to look in a mirror

She sits in the front

 

The driver pulls into the last stop and watches the three passengers leave

Wondering their names, what they would go on to do

Then returns the bus and drives himself home

Sitting much closer to the road, with the window down

Forgetting his car had working air.