Three Bus Rhumba
In his book, Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Writers, Roy Peter Clark says:
• Use one for power .
• Use two for comparison, contrast.
• Use three for completeness, wholeness, roundness.
• Use four or more to list, inventory , compile, and expand.
I ride three buses. One down the mountain, another around the inlet, the third is an express that travels in a straight line into the city like a knife through ice cream. Does it make me whole? Does it make me feel whole?
This week is March break and there are places to sit on the morning bus. It’s almost worth not being on a break for the extra comfort. I have been chaotic in my reading. I pick up books like a crow might. I read and read until another book crosses my path. I think I have 6 books on the go. Double wholeness. I will finish them all. I must. If for no other reason than because I have to generate content for this newsletter and I’ve run out of Edward G. Robinson flicks.
The bus is expressing through my old neighbourhood and I miss travelling by foot. The old Sev is gone, replaced by a low rise apartment building whose exterior is mostly complete. What dreams will the eventual residents dream on a block where so many hot dogs rolled? Where so many slurpees were spilled? The apartments farthest from the corner will inhabit the former location of Tire Town, a squat, rubbery municipality unto itself.
A secret fourth bus will take me the last few blocks to my destination. It is always late and always crowded. I forget about it as soon as I disembark. I will not give it legitimacy.
https://youtu.be/9sEdsI8A2b0?si=YZD84z2BYUJ2BU2a