By Jack Joseph Smith
Original Scan
AI Interpretation
Riding the million dollor bus among black, tall, work-thin travelers turns pocket money, class position, and loss into a hard question about strength and being left alone in the universe.
The bus is comic and class-conscious at once, with "million dollor" sitting beside pocket money and the speaker's willingness to go to the back. The surrounding figures are drawn through labor and toughness, so comfort never quite becomes ease. Asking when to say "leave me alone in the universe" makes privilege feel isolating, while the refusal of loss sounds like bravado the old can no longer maintain.
'The Godd Bus' is comic and class-conscious at once: fellow riders are 'black, tall and tough / Skinny like work', while the speaker rides 'the million dollor / bus, pocket money' and offers, 'I'll go to the back if you / like, sofistacked.' Comfort never settles into ease -- he asks 'When do you say / leave me alone in the universe', and ties strength to wanting, 'top of the line.' The close exposes age: 'The mention of loss should not / be even though the old can't / help it.'