If I took the car I would have missed the woman offering her seat and her insistence to sit – pleasesit – I would have missed the memories of her mother who owns a bean farm in Jamaica she will inherit one day. And then what?Leave Toronto? I would have missed the man who gets on at Vaughn, asks the driver something, who nods then puts the bus in gear. He screeches! Wails! Bolts for the stroller he left outside pizza pizza. I would have missed the young man trying to get on at Christie, beating the doors with both fists. He bellows as the driver ignores him. He actually shakes the bus, punches the doors so hard I expect glass to shatter. Some version of myself might ask What would Jesus do? But that version stays in his seat. The bus lurches forward leaving the young man behind until I no longer see him – or hear him – and only then do I scan the faces of fellow travelers, looking for something – hoping my relief is unanimous.
Bill Garvey's poetry has been published in several journals across North America. His poetry collection, The basement on Biella, was published in 2023 by DarkWinter Press. He grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts and currently lives in Canada with his wife, Jean. He enjoys the public transportation of Toronto.
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