From September 2011:
If you wish to catch a bus, if that is your goal,
best to bring a net along with your fishing pole.
And if you bring Annette, do tell her I said, “hi!”
It’s really been far too long. That’s my alibi.
If by way of alibi you want some reason,
I’m afraid all I can give you is some treason,
for I’m not making sense at this point in my life.
I have done too much, seen too much, felt so much strife
that I feel it’s best if I try another plan,
but which one is a guessing game--see if you can!
No? Give up? So do I. Planning’s not my strong suit,
and the oracles I’ve asked seem to have gone mute.
I will just wait to hear the yearnings of my soul
fishing for buses at my fav’rite wat’ring hole.
Declamation here: https://aprillynnjames.com/track/4760380/if-you-wish-to-catch-a-bus
The inspiration for this bit of fun was an NYC Transit poster that showed someone catching a bus using a fishing pole. I saw it on the long subway rides into and out of Manhattan. It was during the adventurous period when I would bring the Madisonnets to open mics in lower Manhattan. Madison’s rhymes gained a few fans, but never gained serious traction in New York’s poetry scene, mainly because they actually rhyme, and New York poets are just too “cool” to do such things.