The Bus Barn at Night

Motion is not a condition
but a desire
to be outside of one’s self
and all desire must be swept away
so saith fatso Gautama
bus-like
under the shade of some shrub
in the Deer Park
in some grove
some municipal greensward
chewing a leaf
that has left him stoned
as a stone
stone-like
mouthing this sententious drivel
some errand-boy
some rich man’s son
dutifully sets down
on a dusty tablet
ignoring the insects and snakes
After midnight
under the arc-lights
like a giant sound stage
the abandoned set
of an action spectacular
Mrs Kiniski’s team
goes bus to bus
hoovering candy-wrappers
crumbs
and then with their scrapers
attending to the grease
and impacted filth
and gum
as Rudolfo sluices away
in the south-east corner
and the boss, with a sigh
comes to the end
of Hermann Hesse’s Siddartha
Phalanx upon phalanx
of impassive Buddha-wagons
silver hulls and red trim
Fleet of the Three Jewels
the Attainment & Perfection
City Transit Corp.
hosed down, lubricated and tuned
in the Eternity Shop
the Cave of Illumination and Fumes