That which we call WES by any other name would still smell
They're holding another poetry contest to see whose verse should be posted on Tri-Met. They're asking for our votes here, but I think we owe our local transit system more than just that. How about we offer some of our own poetry about Tri-Met, rather than on Tri-Met?
I'll try to get the ball rolling here:
I think that I shall never wax
Poetic on the bus or MAX.
A fleet that belches smoke all day,
From biofuel the sour bouquet;
With tax whose hungry mouth is prest
Against our payroll's flowing breast;
A trolley that in summer bears
A flock of hipsters without fares;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
The slightest flurry halts the train.
Poems are made by gods, I guess,
But only fools can make a WES.
Or how about some haiku?
Hard to get downtown Once I rode the 33 Now I drive my car
I'm just warming up. Help us out on this, readers, with your own poem about Tri-Met.
Comments (21)
In the recent TriMet board meeting the board was given a WES update and notice of it's one year of successful operation.
Breathes there citizens, with soul so dead,
Who never to themselves hath said,
We need an efficient mass transit!
Whose lungs hath ne'er within them burn'd,
As home home their SUVs hath turn'd,
From suburban wasteland boulevards!
If such there wheeze, go, mark them well;
For them no Minstrel raptures swell;
Low though their taxes, proud their name,
Boundless their wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretches, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence they sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.
I'm not a fan of poetry. However, there was one poem on TriMet buses a few years ago that I thought was good. It was called, Teaching the Ape to Write Poems.
We were very tired, things were very lax -
We had gone back and forth all night on the Max.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable
'Cuz a bum had only held it as long as he was able,
We were very tired, things were very lax,
We had gone back and forth all night on the Max.
We hailed, "Good morrow, tweaker!" to a sore-covered head,
And stole a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And he wept, "God bless you!" for the downers and the meth,
And we pushed a feeble senior out the door to his death.
Ben - how revealing that press release was. My favorite part:
"Riders said the best feature was the fast travel time, followed by the comfortable ride and friendly staff. The trip along the 14.7-mile route between Beaverton and Wilsonville takes 27 minutes."
I'm a bit weak in math, but isn't that about 30 miles per hour? Doesn't it usually take about 10-15 minutes to go from Bvtn to Wlsnvl? (Maybe a little longer during rush hour, but surely not 1/2 hour.)
Twenty-some years ago I lived for a year+ in Chicago and spent a lot of time on El trains. I somehow memorized a poem that was on a placard on the walls of one of them. Interestingly, a poem about memories.
In cities there's a lot of time spent alone in crowds. The little flips or blips of literature are a nice use of public space.
Ah, I long for czechoslovaki-ay,
where underground, bus, and tram,
zoom and hum and clack away
with the singular aim...
of getting citizenz to point B,
from point A,
in the quickest possible way.
I went to kafka's grave,
I said a prayer, for everyone who died, and for everyone who lived.
Then I hopped the underground,
admiring it so swiftly on its way.
Too bad the good parts of communism paled
by comparison to its failures.
In the meantime, in Portland,
where we are so clever,
bus routes shrink,
the max stinks
and public transit takes forever.
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (21)
In the recent TriMet board meeting the board was given a WES update and notice of it's one year of successful operation.
They were handed a printed version of this
http://trimet.org/news/releases/jan27-wes.htm
which has no cost of opration or ridership numbers and no member of the TriMet board had any questions.
If the appointed board doesn't have any questions about WES then what would they have questions about?
If they never have any questions about anything that must be why they get appointed.
Every one should be replaced.
Posted by Ben | February 4, 2010 8:40 AM
Breathes there citizens, with soul so dead,
Who never to themselves hath said,
We need an efficient mass transit!
Whose lungs hath ne'er within them burn'd,
As home home their SUVs hath turn'd,
From suburban wasteland boulevards!
If such there wheeze, go, mark them well;
For them no Minstrel raptures swell;
Low though their taxes, proud their name,
Boundless their wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretches, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence they sprung,
Unwept, unhonor'd, and unsung.
Apologies to Sir Wlter Scott
Posted by John Rettig | February 4, 2010 9:00 AM
A reader writes:
I'm not a fan of poetry. However, there was one poem on TriMet buses a few years ago that I thought was good. It was called, Teaching the Ape to Write Poems.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/20369
Posted by Jack Bog | February 4, 2010 9:31 AM
I drive
Because I am
Not TriMet
Is that haiku?
Posted by lw | February 4, 2010 10:20 AM
No, but it's deep.
Posted by Jack Bog | February 4, 2010 10:25 AM
Stranded During the Commute on a Snowy Evening
Whose plan this is I think I know.
They're on the City Council, though;
They will not see me stranded here
To watch this road fill up with snow.
My little car must think it queer
To stop without an exit near
Between the zoo and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
I give my frozen feet a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The snow is unplowed, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Posted by Bill McDonald | February 4, 2010 11:13 AM
New Bus Mall shelters
Glow like the Las Vegas strip
They keep out no rain
Posted by Brandon | February 4, 2010 11:24 AM
Hark! Street kids rejoice!
We've make crime convenient.
Escape By Streetcar!
What the hell is that?
I think he's masturbating!
God, I hate the bus.
What's with the scissors?
Just a little off the top.
Mobile barbershop.
Stay behind the line -
New breed of Tri-Met drivers
Oddly violent
Gateway transit stop
Is en route to PDX?
This route makes no sense.
They've stolen a lane
From the busy downtown streets
Why can't I turn right?
It's time I confess
The sign on the roof was right
Indeed, "F" the tram.
Posted by Dave L | February 4, 2010 12:35 PM
On the MAX I ride
fearful for my life, I am
burning smell of pee
Posted by Anthony | February 4, 2010 12:56 PM
WES -- mass transit -- serves too few.
At great expense, bankruptcy too.
Shelter that leaves me cold and wet.
The homeless kids all bring a pet.
Frequency declines each year.
Unlike the bums, who stink of beer.
With fare increases, I'll bike or drive.
Pay to park, and stay alive.
Posted by Iching | February 4, 2010 1:23 PM
We were very tired, things were very lax -
We had gone back and forth all night on the Max.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable
'Cuz a bum had only held it as long as he was able,
We were very tired, things were very lax,
We had gone back and forth all night on the Max.
We hailed, "Good morrow, tweaker!" to a sore-covered head,
And stole a morning paper, which neither of us read;
And he wept, "God bless you!" for the downers and the meth,
And we pushed a feeble senior out the door to his death.
(w/ apologies to Edna St. Vincent Millay)
Posted by NW Portlander | February 4, 2010 1:26 PM
Tri-Met loves light rail
Sorry if your bus got cut
Just move and take WES
Posted by jmh | February 4, 2010 1:41 PM
Ben - how revealing that press release was. My favorite part:
"Riders said the best feature was the fast travel time, followed by the comfortable ride and friendly staff. The trip along the 14.7-mile route between Beaverton and Wilsonville takes 27 minutes."
I'm a bit weak in math, but isn't that about 30 miles per hour? Doesn't it usually take about 10-15 minutes to go from Bvtn to Wlsnvl? (Maybe a little longer during rush hour, but surely not 1/2 hour.)
Posted by JoWriter | February 4, 2010 4:14 PM
"I cost a lot more
But the buses are faster,"
WES sighed. "Sorry."
Posted by Isaac Laquedem | February 4, 2010 6:07 PM
When you’re a WES,
You’re a WES all the way
From your first budget issue
To your last rider of the day
When you’re a WES
If the trains lack riders
You’ve got Tri-Met around
To out fib all other liars
You’re always on track
You’re never gonna worry
Killing bus routes makes up the slack
Let em ride a surrey
They can’t be in a hurry
When you’re a WES,
You stay a MESS
Posted by LucsAdvo | February 4, 2010 6:59 PM
Apologies to Sondheim and Bernstein for that last post
Posted by LucsAdvo | February 4, 2010 7:00 PM
It was a mistake
rockwood I had disembarked
now I'm fed by tube
Posted by Anthony | February 4, 2010 7:51 PM
Twenty-some years ago I lived for a year+ in Chicago and spent a lot of time on El trains. I somehow memorized a poem that was on a placard on the walls of one of them. Interestingly, a poem about memories.
In cities there's a lot of time spent alone in crowds. The little flips or blips of literature are a nice use of public space.
Posted by Sally | February 5, 2010 8:02 AM
Ironic cliche:
At TriMet, common sense gets
Thrown under the bus
Posted by Roger | February 5, 2010 8:17 AM
Ah, I long for czechoslovaki-ay,
where underground, bus, and tram,
zoom and hum and clack away
with the singular aim...
of getting citizenz to point B,
from point A,
in the quickest possible way.
I went to kafka's grave,
I said a prayer, for everyone who died, and for everyone who lived.
Then I hopped the underground,
admiring it so swiftly on its way.
Too bad the good parts of communism paled
by comparison to its failures.
In the meantime, in Portland,
where we are so clever,
bus routes shrink,
the max stinks
and public transit takes forever.
Posted by gaye harris | February 5, 2010 6:53 PM
Stupid train
promoted by fools
but I pay
Posted by Johnny Lightning | February 6, 2010 7:27 PM