Shigemitsu 12:30
Sonnet and Analysis
The Bus
I'm here, on the bus with books on my knee
People sitting, so weird, it makes me pause
Tons and tons of people that bother me
Persons so strange it makes me clench my jaws
Once rode a woman, taking her sweet time
The driver assumed she finally stepped off
The doors closed, squishing the woman mid-climb
"I have a disability," she scoffed
Then there was one lady; couldn't sit still
She elbowed me while using her cell phone
She moved and just was annoying as hell
It was so bothersome it made me groan
I have seen weird happenings on the bus
But saving the environment and gas is plus
For most normal teenage girls and boys, taking the bus is a dreaded yet unavoidable way of transportation. We are forced to pay with our four quarters and wait at the non-shaded bus stops for most of our sad no-driver's-licenses, awkward, going-independent lives. A lot happens on the bus; discussions about who gets the last open seat and who gets the honor of standing, drama, gossip or scandal, practically toppling over at every stop light when you unfortunately don't score a seat, and a lottttttttt of sitting at the bus stop because the bus is always late. It's pretty much a fact that the bus is never on time. I take the bus at least six times a week, every day home from school and also maybe once or twice on weekends to get from place to place. The bus is such a big influence on my life, sort of, so I decided to write my sonnet for English class about it.
My first line, " I'm here, on the bus with books on my knee," was my introduction to the topic of the public transportation system. If I am lucky enough to score a seat on the bus, I sit with my book-bag, full of heavy schoolbooks, on my lap. I snag a seat for approximately only one quarter of the rides I take. The bus is always halfway frigid, so my bag acts as a blanket. Another reason I always sit with my bag on my knee is that it makes me feel a little bit protected. The bus is a safe environment, but exactly like my second line says, "People sitting so weird, it makes me pause." I don't know what it is between insane people and the Hawaii bus system, but there has got to be some sort of correlation. Although most of the people are harmless, they do seem to make me "clench my jaws" if they are pretty nearby. Some of them also have a case of B.O as well, which doesn't help any matters.
For the rest of my sonnet, I decided to write about some of my experiences on the bus. "Once there was a woman, taking her time/The driver assumed she finally stepped off/The doors closed, squishing the woman mid-climb/'I have a disability,' she scoffed." This was an actual happening that made me laugh quite a bit. While sitting across from this lady during the ride, I noticed that her eyes were jumpy and spastic. She looked everywhere in a short amount of time. When she pulled the stop-requested-line to get off at her stop, she shakily stood up. It took her for-freaking-ever to get to the stairs that were located about four feet away from where she was sitting. She was taking about three minutes on each step, (that is an exaggeration, but it was for a long time.) The entire group of bus riders seemed to be groaning in their minds. When she was on the last step, the bus driver must have thought that she had stepped off, and so he closed the folding doors, hitting her jelloid arms, right on. She turned around to face the surprised bus driver, and with a perfectly even monotone voice, announced to the whole bus, "I have a disability, you know. I really don't need my back to be squished by a crazy bus driver's doors." And with that, she stomped off, much more quickly than a person with a disability should have been walking. The incident ended by me cracking up at the lady's antics.
Another tale I have of an adventure on the bus is described in my third stanza. " Then there was one lady; couldn't sit still/She elbowed me while using her cell phone/She moved and just was annoying as hell/It was so bothersome it made me groan." When I boarded the bus, I found a seat next to a 'nice old grandmotherly lady,' or so I thought. The second I got comfy with my iPod out, she started fidgeting. At first it was okay to handle, just a little twitching of her knee and fingers. But it got worse. And when I say it got worse, it got worse! Her cell phone needed to be taken out and put away almost every minute. And when it was out, it needed to be moved around so that she could view the screen without glare. After about five minutes, I couldn't take it anymore. I moved across the bus to the other open seat and then after I moved, she glared at me. Jeez!
Although the bus does have many negatives, there are also a few positives. The major one of course is that its good for the environment. Cramming more people on the bus means less usage of cars, which means less usage of gasoline and fossil fuels. By taking it almost every day, I am helping to save our planet. "I have seen weird happenings on The Bus/But saving the island and gas is plus." Although it takes a long time for the bus to get from place to place, it is also saving time and resources for the earth. Although some people can be extremely strange and creepy, they provide entertainment for my friends and I, so it's not actually all that bad for the whole time. My sonnet acts as a storyteller; a summarizer for all of the long hours I have spent on the bus.
