Bus Ticket & Window Seat by Maureen Hynes

March 14, 2022
Poem name: Bus Ticket & Window Seat Poet name: Maureen Hynes Poem begins: I am the pages of the household calendar & you are the colourful art images above the grid of days. Oh, that relentless flap of months— even so we are grateful for the flapping, wish it to continue effortlessly. I am the half-remembered lyrics & you the well-rehearsed melody, but our harmony definitely soars. You are the city rabbit that visits our garden, but rarely, & I am the wooden fence she slips through. You are the red-tailed hawk perched on the bank’s coat-of-arms & I am not prey, but rather admirer down here on the pavement, looking up & taking your photo against the blue sky. Who is turtle & who gull? Lemon tarte & whole grain bread. Microphone, megaphone. Starfish & multi-fingered spring branches. Globe & atlas, whirling pages of every island & ocean in the world. Bus ticket & window seat. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Maureen Hynes Maureen Hynes’s most recent book of poetry, Sotto Voce (2019), was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award and the Golden Crown Literary Award for lesbian writers (U.S). Her first book of poetry won the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Award, and her fourth, The Poison Colour, was shortlisted for both the Raymond Souster and Pat Lowther Awards. Her work has been included in over 30 anthologies, including twice in The Best of the Best Canadian Poems in English. www.maureenhynes.com