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Jul 31, 2025
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Passenger Confessions – Wednesday
A man forces a woman into a seat by the window.
Neither of them speak. Her hand covers her black eye.
He puts his arm though hers and pulls her closer. His grip isn’t warm.
She leans into him; his hold says possession.
Her hair covers bruises, not the tears.
A man behind them rubs the kiss his wife gave him this morning from his face.
A face that shines, soaped and shaved. His lies tingling like aftershave.
He slides the wedding ring off his finger and into his pocket.
A woman with a holdall full of bags takes a seat at the front, her eyes anxious.
She yanks her sleeves down, fists hidden in fabric.
Her shop-lifting list is folded in her pocket.
Elsie sits with her bag between her feet. Her purse visible on top.
It’s cheap, dog-eared and plastic. It holds receipts not money.
Elsie doesn’t care, she enjoys the company,
even if no one speaks to her, but she imagines they do.
Elsie uses her free bus pass to keep warm.
Two old friends climb onboard and take the last double seat.
Elsie, wide eyed and earnest, looks as if she knows them, but she doesn’t.
Elsie knows loneliness.
Traffic slows. Wheels grind to a halt.
Deception man, eager to get to work, bumps into the man with the woman in his grasp.
His temper explodes, he punches his transgressor and knocks him to the floor.
Passengers scream. Phones rise like reflex. One films. Others stare.
Holdall lady edges to the doors.
The police are waiting. No one’s getting off here.
Elsie smiles. At last, something to tell her cat, Cooking Fat, when she gets home.
About This Poem
Last Few Words: I'm a day late posting this one. I missed the bus :)
Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back
Editing Stage: Editing - draft
Comments
Rula
2 months ago
Hello Ruby
Amazing captures from what seems to be a routine-bus journey.
I like everything about the poem especially the repetition of Elsie's name though it's something that I would never do, but I find it works well so as to let her the reader's focus.
I always appreciate such descriptive written pieces. And I thought it's something I could be interested one day to write.
Thank you dear for sharing!
Ruby Lord
2 months ago
Hi Rula, thank you for…
Hi Rula, thank you for reading and commenting. Your positive words are always appreciated by me.
I think in the ordinary we find the most interesting but missed parts of life.
Ruby xx
Geezer
2 months ago
What...
an intriguing tale! I didn't remember that you are doing a series, until I went back to look at something else. I am putting the two of them together, and will be looking forward to the rest of them. I am not sure what constitutes poetry anymore; where does public commentary end and become poetry, where does poetry become public commentary? I think that you have struck upon a form that will support the theory of both being true and not to the exclusion of either.
You are right, we tend to forget that life is not the same for all of us; we, in our quest to distance ourselves from the unpleasantness of life, have turned off the emotional turmoil that connects us all. I salute your astuteness and ability to make us watch. ~ Geez.
.
Ruby Lord
2 months ago
Hi Geezer, thank you for…
Hi Geezer, thank you for reading and commenting. I'm glad you found it intriguing and like you I asked myself what makes this poetry?
I think it is the practice of delivering emotion without sentimentalising if that makes sense but also its revealing the thoughtful in the ordinary.
Thank you again for your comments.
If you can find the anagram in Wednesday's confession you deserve bonus points. Ruby :)
Lavender
1 month 2 weeks ago
Wednesday...
Hi, Ruby,
Introduced to a specific passenger with a specific name - Elsie. Much through her eyes, here. For me, this particular day holds confessions a bit more clearly than Monday or Tuesday. Maybe due to the issues - abuse, infidelity, theft, and poor Elsie who has a lonely home life, but seems pretty amused with the dysfunctional lives of the other passengers. I love the name-dropping reference to the cat - a bit more information about Elsie. Paints a defined picture of her life.
To Thursday...
Thank you!
L