Question:

What do you look at when on public transport?

by  |  earlier

0 LIKES UnLike

Some thoughts from Birmingham, England sixty eight years ago, refreshed each time I travel on public transport.

Rooftops have always interested me,

whether I am in a moving train or on

the top deck of a bus it is the rooftops

which have my undivided attention.

Most people live their lives at ground

level, most of the time anyway. Some

live with their heads in the clouds

hoping that someday their lives will

change from the humdrum existence

locked in at street level.

So I look at the rooftops, at a different

world a strange world of dirty windows,

some covered with brown paper.

TV aerials, smokeless chimneys dressed

in pigeon droppings. And above the stores

old tailors dummies staring with sightless

eyes at God know what.

Now and again I see a lone girl

leaning on the window frame

looking at me looking at her, and I

want to wave but she turns her head

to look at someone or something else.

Who was she, was she looking at me,

or were her thoughts far away.

It doesn't matter for there are sights

which will soon attract my attention, and

she will be forgotten, until I pass that way

again when I expect I shall hope to catch

a glimpse of her.

Gargoyles look out with blind eyes

from old churches. Their tongues

lapping up the dirty air as if feeding

the dirty stonework, carved two, three,

four or five hundred years ago.

A red mop pokes its head out of a

window and twists its dirty head this

way and that sending dandruff into

the air to be sucked around the

corner of the building by the already

polluted breeze.

The red mop is withdrawn back

though the window to be replaced

by a turbaned head of a cleaning

lady, whose ample bosom rests

on the dirty stonework of the window

sill. She stubs out a cigarette on

the stone, then spits, and watches

the spittle fall to the ground three

stories below.

Charred bones of a burned out building

come into view, with a giant sign saying,

"Closed for Stocktaking" and a smile

creases my face. Someone has a sense

of humor, or perhaps they are happy

because the insurance payed up.

My journey into another world comes

to an end, as I get out of my transport

and look up at the sky. A dozen or more

Tumbler Pigeons circle the rooftops,

and I wonder what their view is like and

I desired to be able to fly.

To be able to see the roof tops, hats

in all their various shapes and materials.

Slate tiles perhaps all the way from Wales.

Aged copper; which having lost its coppery

glow to be replaced by a more comfortable

and pleasing greenish gray.

It is another world which most of us fail to

see when we travel through the older part

of a town or city. I am fascinated by all that

is just above eye level, yet unseen by those

who live in the comfort zone of the street.

 Tags:

   Report

7 ANSWERS


  1. I shall never ride the public transit system again that I won't think of you and this very descriptive poem.Thanks for opening my eyes.


  2. i personally think you are trying to be too deep.

    thats just a thought.

    public transport = p**s, fights and drunks to be honest

    just my opinion =)

    keep it simple

  3. The people mostly - their expressions, their clothing and if they look happy, sad, frustrated or just plain bored.  

  4. Mostly I have always slept, but after reading this account, I will probably be looking for rooftops.

  5. There they go

    One after another

    Leaving here going there

    The travelers

    Lost in the crowd of losers

    With their self-importance

    Storytellers to strange ears

    Time killers on a mission

    Going here going nowhere

    And the watchers

    The observers like me

    I sit, I watch, I write

    Why do I write?

    It’s the only way out

    I’m trapped in here

    My thoughts my prison

    Why am I here?

    Oh yeah, I’m going home

    Or am I too going nowhere?

    And who’s watching me? Observing?

    I know someone is

    There always is

    Asked and answered and forced to look other ways from now on.Thank you RH


  6. When I`m on public trans I think mostly about the psychology of people.

    I also think up some poetry while I'm riding.

    I'll give you 1 of my thoughts for free.

    Have fun with it however you please.

    I always think to myself how amazing it is that every day I go out, and every day I see hundreds of new faces.

    And most of those faces I will never see again.

    And each and every individual person has a story, and has life.

    That to me is mind consuming, and mind boggling.

    Think about it next time you ride on public trans.

    See all the new faces.

  7. A good instruction as to the world of different viewpoints.  As is in life - everything has more than one way to be acted upon or reacted to. An openness to different viewpoints etc. - can give a whole new variety - to one's experiences and knowledge ♥

Question Stats

Latest activity: earlier.
This question has 7 answers.

BECOME A GUIDE

Share your knowledge and help people by answering questions.
Unanswered Questions