Greetings and Salutations
“I’ll know that civilisation has completely collapsed when bus drivers stop waving to each other.”
– Joanne Limburg
Idle thoughts of a bus driver
number something-or-other
in a series of the infinite:
what if the beaky epitome
of 1970s time-and-motion
clipboard bureaucracy
hopped on board right now,
took stock of my working hours?
What percentage would it tap out at,
this raising of the hand
to fellow drivers, some of whom
I know by name or clock number,
others by sight, and some
not at all except that this thing
we do for a living unites us in a way
you can’t say the same of
about HR administrators
or receptionists or data cleansers?
Neil Fulwood was born in Nottingham, where he still lives and works. He has two poetry collections with Shoestring Press: No Avoiding It and Can’t Take Me Anywhere. He also co-edited the Alan Sillitoe tribute volume, More Raw Material.