Portrait: Gary (Bus Driver)

I got this talkative bus driver
named Gary, who makes it his
business to know where you're going, even if you didn't say hello to him when you got on the bus; even if you are wearing headphone.
He's got this belly that's as full
of hot air as he, and this white
beard, and these copper aviators
Gary, the bus driver, reminds me of what I thought Gary Snyder, the poet, looked like before I actually saw his picture.
It turns out that Gary Snyder, the poet, is or was,
depending on how one looks at him, an attractive man.
A little on the hippy side, but never. . .the. . .less.
"I'm not coming back this way later on," says Gary, the bus driver. "You're going to want to take the Nite-Ride back home," says his arrogant-all-knowing belly.
I nod under my headphones.