I don't like buses at all. I seriously prefer subways. Because you don't have to really wait with someone. And I hate that common bond. It feels like I'm bonding with the worst crowd possible. Bus people who wait at buses can often at times be the lowest scum.

I hate subways. Subways are for damn, no-good yuppies. Yeah, well don't be so judgemental, who knows, maybe in twenty years *you'll* be the bearded hobo. ;)

Man, I wish you commented on the form and content rather than the subject matter. But thanks for reading.

Content and form is deep. I'm shallow. I only see and analyse the obvious mainly.

Anyway, I won't be bearded and I won't be a hobo. But subways are good. They get you places. I had a lot of fun on subways. Me and Blaze went and got a transfer from every stop on the TTC (subway) in one day. We collected those transfers and I still think I have them somewhere.

I eat the obvious. And I shit out the abstract. TTC sounds like a gun of some sorts. Well, subways in TO could be much much different from the ShiteTrain we have here...

Does no one walk anymore?

Believe it or not, back in 1996 I actually walked to downtown and back from Marpole, on foot, a couple of times. Just for the hell of it. ;)

Walking?!? Who would walk when we have things on wheels and rails to move us around? It's a lazy person's world. I used to walk too but that went out of style a while back. Once new technology came out, I refuse to walk anymore. But I did walk to the post office yesterday, so who am I to talk? I don't do things for the hell of it anymore. I wish I did. Like I want to do spontaneous shit like take a glass of tea and drop it on the ground for no reason. But I never have the courage to go through something like that. Or when I'm waiting at the bus stop (yes, I take the bus sometimes since I live in Luxembourg and there are no subways here), I thought about getting on the wrong bus for the hell of it. But it never works out.

Well...poor people...and 'lil urban rebels, like Patrick and I. ;) Yeah, it may be a lazy person's world, but when we get too lazy to get up for the remote, it's going a bit too far.

Ahaha of course the problem with the "glass of tea" scenario is that if you *don't* live alone, you'll probably be the one cleaning it up...eventually. On the upside, if you *do* live alone...you can leave it there in defiance of social decorum and see how many varieties of mould will grow there before someone else comes over and cleans it up.

Hah. Taking the bus in Luxembourg. That's like looking in a teacup for sunken treasure. All *I* ever find is sugar. But anyways, it's all a fucking Catch-22: On the one hand, if you get on the wrong bus by accident or don't get off at the wrong place, it's no fun at all. On the other hand, if you spend a day and a half premeditating this bus wrongtaking, it all ends up being equally non-fun. Most likely you'll end up at some boring and lonely "end of the line" bus stop on one of those unpopular street-ends like Cambie and Marine Drive.

In the best case scenario, you'll end up at the bus depot, on Oak and 41st, right opposite the Jewish Community Centre. And then you could go swim in the Jewish swimming pool (but you'll need a membership card [I wonder if mine still works?]) or buy Jewish pastries in the little café inside. But you see what I'm saying here.

Are the pastries kosher? I want to swim with Jews. That sounds like a thrilling experience. There is one synagogue here, but as I'm not Jewish, I feel as if I'm not welcome there. It's not like I want to go or anything. I will try the glass tea thing one of these days when I live alone. Hey, do you have to be Jewish to be a member of the Jewish community pool? Do they offer you Israeli citizenship as a bonus?

Yes, they are. Well, swimming with the Jews is not as thrilling as swimming with the whales, per se. WTF is the glass tea thing? Sounds like some perversion of yours. Not really. But if you're not Jewish, your membership fees are higher. Hahaha, no. God, I wish they'd take mine.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! You can sell it to me maybe. Maybe they'd agree to trade places. I personally think it would be more thrilling to swim with Jews than with Whales. It interests me to know whether the yamakas float or sink, or how whether they keep them on at all during swimming.

They'd probably take you. But you'd have to serve in the schmilitary. No, and it's not fucking called a yarmulke, you fucking gentile, it's called a "kipa." Anyways, WTF is the glass tea thing?

Shit! When I told someone about Kipas, they said it's called a Yamakah. But they're not Jewish I guess. We learned about Kipas in school. The pope wears one too. The glass tea thing is a glass full of tea.

Indeed. But take it from me, I know what I be sayin'. I *knew* it! First Jesus is a Jew, now the pope is one too?! AHAHAHA glass tea, good one.

The Pope's not Jewish. He just wears a yamakah. Jesus was Jewish, but I guess he converted to Christianity since he kind of started it. Christianity is just an updated version of Jewishness.

Uh, like whatever! OK, the pappa is not a Jewble, but Jesus was totally Jewish - why the fuck do you think his parents took him to the temple on the seventh day after he was born - they don't state it outright, but it's to get his dick trimmed! Christianity didn't start until after some Roman dude started to formalize a religion around Jebus's students' writings. Jebus didn't create jack shit, he just started the shit to make people think about it.

Look you Jew! Christianity started with Jesus. Go back to Hebrew school or something or join the Israeli paramilitary.

Hey, fuck you, buddy. Christianity was started with your mom. Just because the dreidel didn't turn the right way for you, don't start putting words on the table and making me eat them.

Don't flare up your jewish nostrils.

Fuck, you *had* to bring the nostrils into this, you fucking nosegay.

really cool poem, i am choreographing a piece based on a bus stop would you mind if i used your poem, it is really suited to what we're trying to get across, joey- yorkshire

Well, I'm glad you liked my poem. Sure, feel free to use it in your piece, just credit my name somewhere if you do it. It would be very interesting for me to see something like this produced, since the initial idea behind this poem was along the lines of insight into the performances, theatrics and choreographies that pervade our everyday lives.

just to say thanks for your reply mike. I am a dance student at york st john university and am devising a piece based on how people conform in everyday situations in public places. The piece begins with the dancers on stage waiting at a bus stop, with a film projection behind of bus stops in the york area. Your poem will be read outloud as the dance is performed to set the rythm of the dance and clarify it's meaning. The three dancers first work in regimented unison before breaking off into freer more abstract movements. The underlying meaning is how people keep themselves to themselves in public situations (they take up the stereotypical "I'm waiting for a bus" stance) in order to fit in with everyone else waiting at the stop, when they really could quite easily pass the time far more quickly by being sociable and communicating with others around them. Was really excited by the rythmn of your poem and the content, your introduction to the poem was also fantastic, particularly the last paragraph. Hope you will be pleased with the way we intend to use your poem, if you have any ideas or thoughts I would be really interested. Thankyou for your time, Joey

This is so damn cool, Joey. Speaking of conformity in social situations, have you considered doing anything with people on the bus? I can't remember the site it was on, but one person fascinated with busses actually mapped out people's paths into and out of busses, yielding a sort of dance.

Indeed, on my long ride from university back home, there's a sort of a dance away from undesirable spaces, towards nice seats, easy exit routes, around the poles, etc. You could do the waiting for the bus bit and then the riding the bus bit, but to music, to underscore people dissatisfaction with wherever they are, heh. The sky is the limit with this one. Man, this reminds me of that psych experiment a prof once suggested to me: go up to a person sitting in a bus, with plenty of seats around him, and ask for his seat. I couldn't bring myself to do that, yet. And it seems like such a simple thing, too.

The film projection idea is very smart. Reminds me of that Von Trier film, Dogville, where the actors were acting in imaginary spaces, only highlighted by a few pieces of furniture. The idea of everyone keeping to themselves is also very good and here you could actually do something with say, a guy trying to catch the eye of an attractive girl at the bus stop and pretending not to stare. Oh, I saw this hilarious ad about this exact situation in a festival once: a guy sits in a bus and looks at a girl and thinks: "Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me..." and then she looks at him and he becomes embarassed and thinks "Don't look at me, don't look at me..." - hilarity! At any rate, you could do something with people almost-approaching each other, but then drawing back, in a hesitant dance, heh. Humans are so amusing. ;)

Well, I won't tell you how to do your job, heh; I think your idea will turn out nicely. Too bad I won't get to see it. If you print programs, though, send one my way, eh? Good luck!

hey mike, your ideas sound really cool will definately look into all of them. Particularly liked the idea of mapping out people's paths on busses and the routes they subconcsiously choose. I've been watching bus stops a lot recently, watching the way people queue and how people move when they're on a bus. Passengers will sit alone at all costs unless they are with a companion they already know. Passengers are even reluctant to ask to sit next to someone with an empty seat by the side of them. I've also found passngers stand up for a long duration before the bus reaches the stop even if the bell has already been rung. The kids on double decker busses frequently rush to the top level, while the elderly sit nearest the entrance/exit. I have drawn many maps which show the floor pattern of people waiting at the bus stop and then once on the bus. These floor patterns will be used as the floor pattern of the dance and to influence the movement used.
I was also interested to play with the boy/girl idea of the boy wanting the girl to look at him but not really wanting her to look when she eventually does. I'm going to use this pattern of interaction in the dance, where people feel they want to interact but when they are put in a situation of insecurity they decide against it!
will keep you up to date with how it's coming along, still enjoying your poem, the rhythmn is excellent! thanks for your help, really glad I found your website!

Heh, they'll sit alone unless they're with a companion unless it's a sub-companion, like something less of a friend but more of an acquaintance and you both know you'd rather sit alone but sit together anyway out of decorum, saying nothing. Hah.

Ah yes, the standing for the long duration, I actually do that. At the very least with me it's all about conquering that little path to freedom out of the bus, while maintaining a comfortable enough position. There is even an implicit understanding of such positions. On the bigger busses, it's basically when you're facing the rear doors, leaning on the plastic divider to the right of you; it's almost like you're the guardian of the bus doors.

I like your grasp of human motion; so many people take all these little things for granted. At any rate, I've got to rest my sore carcass, I just came back from the gym. Thanks again for the compliments, I am likewise glad to have found a like-minded person. ;)

Hello!
I'm a graphic design student designing a website at the moment about people waiting, in various situations in different locations and under different conditions, weather etc. i,ve categorised three different types of waiting characters and photographed the way each character moves. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions or anything really...

Wow, only three? Though, I suppose, it's good to limit yourself when you come up with a design concept, a thing like human dynamics should not be limited, unless you're seeking to imitate a specific graphic style or achieve a unique effect (which, nonetheless, would be somewhat distant from reality, but then again, that's the necessary enigma of art, heh).

When you say "photographed," do you mean still photography? Because, if I were to "classify" this kind of collection of human mannerisms of waiting and moving in a still-image medium, I'd go by mood and position, not motion. Let me explain.

Motion is too open for interpretation, from the classic example of certain drawings or photographs showing ambiguous movements ("Is he raising a foot or lowering it?" "Is he coming or going?") to more complex questions, such as whether the depicted moment is a visual suggestion of something, or just an indication of motion in itself.

Because of this problem, one must go with position and mood. If you depict a person with that distinct facial expression of after-work fatigue, with a certain tilt of the head and look in the eyes, regardless of their actual visual context (standing at a bus stop, pacing at the bus stop, getting the change out to board the bus), every single potential action that they might perform is already encoded in the context contained somewhere between their actual depiction (for instance, in their stance, facial expression, or in the play of light and shadow, symbolic of the weather, as per your own idea), and the viewer's personal understanding of that depiction, translated into appreciation based upon similarity or difference with a) personal experience ("Oh, I know exactly how that person feels!" or "Well, I know what that person feels, but why is he looking at such an angle? Interesting.") and b) experience based upon common sense ("So this is what it must be like to really want to stretch one's legs but with the bus stop bench already full.").

Needless to say, this is one clear case where there is direct and two-way communication between the artist and the viewer, because, if you make it too abstract, the significance of the fine balance waiting and moving is lost; if you make it too obvious, there will be no attraction in your subjects' positions and motion.

Above all things, though, don't over-think this. Very rarely (unless one is an artist) does one question one's feelings regarding art directly or verbalises them, the entire point of art being to say the un-sayable and to present something that cannot be merely rationalised away. So keep it simple and intuitive; I'm sure your project will turn out to be very interesting. Drop me a link when you're done building it. ;)

thanks! I'll take what you've said on board, I've been researching and observing people waiting for months now and although the type of characters are infinite, i've decided to categorise them into three groups that share strong similarities, otherwise I'd never finish the piece! The movement or motion of the characters will be stop motion, similar to a flip book, to emphasise each position. I've used still photography that follows the progression from one position to the next. By the way, I thought your poem was great, really emphasised the repetitive ryhthm that I'm trying to convey!

Of course; we have to be practical. In this sense, stop motion is a really good idea! I'd really like to see this now.

Well, thanks for the compliment, that's exactly what I tried to achieve in the poem. Good luck on your project!

Cheers mike, I'll let you know how i get on, and send you a link when I upload the site!

hi Mike, its Joey, havn't spoken to you in a while just thought I'd email to let you know how our piece is coming along, it's being performed tomorrow! We have different sections in our music, your poem is the final section which I read out loud and which now overlaps so you hear the same words almost straight after each other, a kind of canon affect! It sounds pretty cool I will send u a link with it. We also feature a film projection of short clips of bus stops around the city of York, 3 dancers hold up photographs of other people's faces in front of their face while everyday people just look on and wonder what the hell we're doing! In the edit suite we've speeded this up so it looks like everyones just moving around us and we're frozen in time. We're wearing suits for the dance to emphasis conformity, I am sorting out a programme right now so I will also send you one, your name is in the credits. Thanks very much again, I'm sure you'd like our piece if you could see it dammit! hehe love joey x

Man. That is so damn cool! Hey, break a leg out there! ;)