A man standing at the bus stop
reading the newspaper is on fire
Flames are peeking out
from beneath his collar and cuffs
His shoes have begun to melt
The woman next to him
wants to mention it to him
that he is burning
but she is drowning
Water is everywhere
in her mouth and ears
in her eyes
A stream of water runs
steadily from her blouse
Another woman stands at the bus stop
freezing to death
She tries to stand near the man
who is on fire
to try to melt the icicles
that have formed on her eyelashes
and on her nostrils
to stop her teeth long enough
from chattering to say something
to the woman who is drowning
but the woman who is freezing to death
has trouble moving
with blocks of ice on her feet
It takes the three some time
to board the bus
what with the flames
and water and ice
But when they finally climb the stairs
and take their seats
the driver doesn't even notice
that none of them has paid
because he is tortured
by visions and is wondering
if the man who got off at the last stop
was really being mauled to death
by wild dogs.
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Tuesday 9 A.M. - Denver Butson
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I think that this poem stands for emotion. The man is burning from his past and what he feels inside. The women is drowning in sorrow, her pain suffocating her. The other woman is stuck in her thoughts, iced in by her thoughts and actions. If she moves, she just slips and falls on reality. The bus driver is having flashbacks with the memory of someone he lost. They are all suffering, so close but yet so far from reality. They want to save each other but are stuck in their own problems.
ReplyDeleteI agree how this is dealing with people's emotion. How people on the outside may look fine but on the inside everyone is dealing with there own "hell." How everyone has problems and is trying to find a way to escape them.
DeleteThis poem resembles the past. The man's past has caught up with him and is destroying him from the inside. I remember this poem from last year.
ReplyDeleteI think this resembles real world problems that people have today. Ask yourself this can you really help anyone else if your suffering yourself? How useful is your advice if your struggling just as much and are just as lost.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I was thinking while reading this. They all had the tools to help each other (the man with the fire could've melted the ice or the woman with the water could've stopped the fire) but because their own problems were holding them back they became useless
DeleteI think this resembles real world problems that people have today. Ask yourself this can you really help anyone else if your suffering yourself? How useful is your advice if your struggling just as much and are just as lost.
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ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this. Everybody has things in their life that they are dealing with, and we are always told that somebody may have it worse than us. Everybody has their own problems.
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand this poem at first glance until Mr. Torres told us what it meant. Ever since then I've had a fascination with this poem (and poetry isn't my cup cup of tea). It subtly explains the way the issues these people are facing, just like in real life people hide their problems.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this somewhere before, I think we all have our own problems, and sometimes the problems we have can be someone else's solution. It's an endless cycle that you have to movie through the hard part.
ReplyDeleteI turely think that this poem show that not everything in life is going to go as plan you would have never guess what was wrong but it turely make you think how this is true about the world because of what happen know a days
ReplyDeleteThis poem. Man. I'm in love. But I think it stands to show that our problems are our own. No one can do anything to put out our anger. To stop our tears. Or to warm our hearts. We have to decide for ourselves that we will live though the pain we are enduring. And that is why this poem is so great to me. Because when I read this poem it showed me, no idea why, that I'd be ok. I may be drowning now, but I'll rise to the surface. Everyone is strong enough to face their own demons and that is what I get out of this melancholy poem.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, Jen. Everyone has their own problems, most of which don't even appear on the surface, so no one ever really notices. We have to help ourselves and, as you said, rise to the surface.
DeleteI remember reading this freshman year, it's a very powerful poem. Especially, when the man could have helped the woman in ice.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this freshman year, it's a very powerful poem. Especially, when the man could have helped the woman in ice.
ReplyDeleteI feel this poem deals with the most harsh emotions and reality. The people waiting at the bus stop are dealing with this emotions based on the past maybe, those emotions being maybe depression, anger, loniliness or even feelingn of being lost. They want to help eachother but cant do anything about it.
ReplyDeleteHow can you help others to become better when you're emotionally broken? You can't and many people face these problems everyday in the real world.
ReplyDeleteHow can you help others to become better when you're emotionally broken? You can't and many people face these problems everyday in the real world.
ReplyDeleteThe use of figurative language in this really gets you. The power behind the metaphors makes you think. It shows how your inner demons can effect you, how they take a toll on your entire being.
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