Sunday 25 April 2010

The Poetry Bus - Where the Hell has Mad Uncle Agnes hidden my SatNav?


What a lot of eager beavers we have clamouring to board the bus this week!  Can't a driver finish lunch without youse all banging on the doors, demanding to be let in?

Here's a reminder of the prompts...

Family Daysaver Special
Remember that mad old aunt that terrified you as a child?  That slightly shady Uncle Eric with the pencil moustache and the dodgy used car business?  What about that cousin that no-body ever mentions?  Or that sweet apple-cheeked grandma that used to give you sweeties and knit you awful cardies?  We've all got family skellies rattling around in our closets so let's hear about all those daffy relatives.

or

Off-Peak/Off-Piste TravelCard
Have you ever been lost?  Were you alone in the woods or just going the wrong way up a one-way street.  What did it feel like being somewhere you weren't supposed to be?

There are still a few seats left.....

Boogieing her way to the front of the queue is Rachel.

Telling her family "his" story is Karen.

Swiss has got two beautifully-crafted tickets, this one and this one.

Peter Goulding's not allowed to mention his Uncle Edward.  Find out why here.

Jeanne Iris proves that, contrary to Tolkien, pretty much all who wander are lost here.

Dominic's having short-term anemone problems.

Plugging her ears and pulling the blanket over her head is Enchanted Oak.

Niamh, all out of donkey jokes, is here.

Don't Feed the Pixies in sideways musical form is not going Down That Road.

Titus is bathing in blood over here.

The Bug's off to Church Camp - or is she?

Weaver brings us her Aunt Nell .

The Watercats are all bitter and twisted (musically speaking).

Domestic Oubliette is all apologetic here, but why?

Crazyfieldmouse is at the shops with mum. Then what happened?

And here's mine.  Based on true events....

Borne Away

I can't believe this has happened.

Nose in a book,
I have been unconscious,
Unheeding of familiar streets
Turning unfamiliar.

I have no idea where I am now.

The driver is
"Not going back that way, luv".
He's off to the depot, then home.

Lucky him.

As darkness falls
I'm alone in this strange street.
Will there ever be another bus?

I can't believe this has happened.

Again!

24 comments:

  1. Lost in a book is the best place to be lost. Lost again is sheer poetry! Good one, Argent!

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  2. beootifull.... I shall be climbing my sorry knackered bones aboard the bus tomorrow.. looking forward to getting my hole back in gear again :-)
    your poem is just loverly... a little calm of calm in the middle of mayhem (here) :-D
    see you tomorrow!

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  3. Yahoo! Didn't think I'd make it, it's an old one, but it's here;

    http://titusthedog.blogspot.com/2010/04/hold-your-head-up-its-poetry-bus-with.html

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  4. This hasn't happened to me - though i was once on a bus that the driver never bothered to check was empty before he drove it off to the depot for a wash. Thankfully it wasn't a long delay

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  5. @Karen - Thanks. Another 1-minute-wonder for me.

    @Watercats - Cheers! Glad you're not too famous yet to hang out with the little people on the bus :-).

    @Titus - Old or new, it's all the same to us.

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  6. You're not saying it took you a minute to compose that?
    Love the 'Again' One word puts a whole new twist on the poem

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  7. Now I've always wanted to have convenient public transportion, but this makes me reconsider. I would definitely be that person who would miss my stop - frequently!

    Here's my submission for the week: http://danabugseyeview.blogspot.com/2010/04/church-camp.html.

    Here's the lame Uncle Bill effort. I WON'T be posting it on my blog, but figured it couldn't hurt to bury it here!

    My uncle Bill
    (quite a pill)
    Is a terror I confess
    “Eat your peas!
    Cause only these
    Can put hair on your chest!”

    “but Uncle,” I mewl
    “I’m a girl - it’s not cool!
    I don’t want hair on my chest!”
    “Ha!” says he
    With what seems like glee,
    “You’re not a girl – you’re a pest!”

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  8. a writer, I am not!
    Your blog has me in quite a spot.
    which leaves me in a jam!
    I will just say, a photographer I am!

    sorry it is so corny, thanks for stopping by to see my dragons and elephants. it appears there are many people that write lovely poetry. i read a few of them.

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  9. forgot to say how much I like your header

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  10. That's a great one, Argent! I'm working on a ticket, but am also working hard at being more or less lost at the moment, and may thus miss the bus this week. We'll see!

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  11. @Peter - It pretty much only ever takes me about that long to do a poem - the first draft anyway (although I don't usually tweak much after that). I did go back and alter a little bit though, to remove 1 line that was out of place.

    @Bug - Welcome to the Bus! I like your Unclue Bill poem, it's fun and we like fun here on the bus.

    @Sandra - Thanks for the compliment on my header. You are a poet and you didn't know it! Greatly enjoyed your blog and will be back.

    @NanU - Hope you do manage to catch the bus after all.

    Thanks everyone for the kind words.

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  12. I'm on board the bus... a bit of a cop out, but I'm going to re-post the song with lyrics ;-)
    (loving the bus picture)... and it's my turn driving next week :-O

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  13. Hey, I like the poem (and I know the feeling). Missed the bus this week - all out of poems - but I'm looking forward to reading what your prompts produced - Nice driving ;)

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  14. On board!

    http://domesticoubliette.blogspot.com/2010/04/poetry-bus-haiku-sorry-tfe.html

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  15. Hi, my contribution here:
    http://crazyfieldmouse.wordpress.com/2010/04/24/lost/
    off to read the rest
    thanks for hosting
    cfm

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  16. @Watercats - Glad you're aboard out-copping or not. Looking forward to handing over da keys to da bus. It was a divil to get it to go up your boreen though and I think I might have run over something or someone (you might want to do a quick headocunt over there).

    @Pure Fiction - Sorry you couldn't make it, better luck next week.

    @D'oub - glad you made it.

    @CFM - Ticket duly inspected and found to be valid.

    There are still a few places left on da bus. Most of the really good biccies are gone. though and someone's nearly emptied the bar (again!).

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  18. Been there, done it, read the poem. All I need now is the t-shirt. :)

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  19. Great driving Argent, and I'm amazed by how many went for the "lost" prompt. Some really interesting works this week.

    As for that "strange street... Again!" - ah, the power of words. Including yours.

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  20. I missed the bus, gone a different direction altogether, but would like to say that I know that feeling of having read past my stop and ended up at a strange destination several times in the past. Don't know whether it is therefore a good thing that there isn't a bus where I live now.

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  21. @Dominic - feel free to visit the concessions stand at the back of the bus. Poetry Bus mugs, T-Shirts, badges... all at reasonable prices.

    @Titus - Cheers. It is a testimony to how many of us have felt lost at one time or another.

    @Friko - The annoying thing is that it has happened more than once. You'd think I would have learned from the first time wouldn't you?

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  22. Dear Argent,

    Forgive me, please. I've got sucked into the world of Ancestry.ca/com/wherever and it's consumed my days and nights (added to that, I'm finishing up my poetry book manuscript), so I haven't pulled anything out of my hat for the poetry bus, but it may happen yet and I promise you'll be the first to know.

    Best,

    Kat

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  23. Brilliant Job Argent, both driving and writing.That poem is a bit unsettling, I liked the familiar streets turning unfamiliar, it sort of has a double meaning for me.And a great task and I'm lovin the logo and I'm sorry I missed this one.But well done and mucho muchly thankly thankly!

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  24. @Kat - You are forgiven, there are no press-gangs for this bus.

    @TFE - Sorry you couldn't make it and by way of apolo for letting h***us on da bus I'm sending ya sometin'

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