Greetings and Salutations

“I’ll know that civilisation has completely collapsed when bus drivers stop waving to each other.”
– Joanne Limburg

Idle thoughts of a bus driver
number something-or-other

in a series of the infinite:
what if the beaky epitome

of 1970s time-and-motion
clipboard bureaucracy

hopped on board right now,
took stock of my working hours?

What percentage would it tap out at,
this raising of the hand

to fellow drivers, some of whom
I know by name or clock number,

others by sight, and some
not at all except that this thing

we do for a living unites us in a way
you can’t say the same of

about HR administrators
or receptionists or data cleansers?

 

 

Neil Fulwood was born in Nottingham, where he still lives and works. He has two poetry collections with Shoestring Press: No Avoiding It and Can’t Take Me Anywhere. He also co-edited the Alan Sillitoe tribute volume, More Raw Material.