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At the Bus Station

no attention to human sounds" and claims that "words"
SUMMARY themselves "lose meaning / until you are inside the bus."
Ominously, this wording suggests that you can ignore anyone
When you get to the bus station, loosen or take off your necktie
(even if they're in pain) or say anything (even if it's hurtful)
so that you don't get choked to death. As you jostle to climb
during the "battle."
aboard the bus, undo the buttons on your shirt and coat so that
they don't fall off. As you struggle to board, pull your shoelaces Even allowing for comic hyperbole
yperbole, the poem suggests that, at
tight; otherwise, as the crowd drags you up onto the bus, your an ordinary moment in an ordinary city, compassion and civility
shoes might fall off when you're in midair. Pull your belt tight, can vanish. The reader/citizen may be at risk of losing necktie,
too, so that your clothes don't come off in the scuffle at the glasses, jacket, shoes, and/or clothing itself—articles associated
door. Take off your eyeglasses and grab hold of someone till with sophistication, or just ordinary civilization.
you're on board. As you go up the steps, ignore the sounds Especially in the context of poetry (which places high value on
people are making, and remember that the words you and the meaning of words), the idea that words can suddenly "lose
others say mean nothing till you've made it on board. meaning" is unnerving. It suggests that poetry, language, and
human culture itself are fragile—that these markers of
humanity can disappear even in minor conflicts (i.e., it doesn't
THEMES even take a war or disaster). To put it another way, even minor
human conflicts can quickly escalate into "battle[s]" without
CIVILITY, INCIVILITY, AND VIOLENCE rules or boundaries.
"At the Bus Station" is framed as a set of instructions
for boarding a bus amid a jostling, rambunctious Where this theme appears in the poem:
crowd. In careful detail, the poem tells passengers how to avoid • Lines 1-24
choking on their own neckwear, losing buttons from their
clothing, or losing that clothing itself. Most unsettlingly, the
speaker claims that, during the scramble, "human sounds" are
to be ignored and "words [will] lose meaning." Despite its comic
LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
undertones, then, the poem depicts normal rules of human LINES 1-5
behavior falling by the wayside during a mundane event. In the
process, it illustrates how fragile those rules are in the first When you arrive ...
place, suggesting that even in sophisticated urban societies, ... to prevent strangulation.
violence lurks just below the surface of everyday life. Lines 1-5 establish the poem's conceit
conceit: it's a set of instructions
The poem instructs the reader to prepare for a seemingly trivial for navigating a dangerous crowd at a bus station. Right away,
activity—boarding a bus—as if it were a serious "battle." For the opening sentence strikes an ominous note. The speaker
example, the speaker instructs the reader on how to avoid warns "you," the reader (imagined as a professionally dressed,
"strangulation" during the "fight," using terms that imply a likely male, figure), to loosen or remove your necktie so as "to
potential life-or-death struggle. The speaker even warns that prevent strangulation." Already it's clear that some form of
the "scrambling / at the door" can get so intense that fellow violence regularly occurs in this setting
setting.
passengers might "haul[]" you into the air and pull your clothes The speaker doesn't make clear where this bus station is
off. located, or where "you" or other passengers may be headed. By
As the chaos unfolds, the poem suggests that ordinary rules of omitting these details, the poem makes its scenario seem more
human behavior, and even the ordinary "meaning[s]" of "words," universal. "The Bus Station" could be just about any bus station,
no longer apply. The speaker instructs the reader how "to avoid anywhere in the world, so the implied threat of violence is all
being undressed" in the melee, conjuring up a kind of mob the more unnerving. Likewise, it's not clear who this
scene where no one's safe and anything goes. The instruction authoritative speaker is supposed to be—a local resident?
to "hold tight to someone / until you are in the bus" suggests Someone who's learned about this violence the hard way? All
that, even in this every-man-for-himself atmosphere, people the reader knows is that the speaker has some familiarity with
are still dependent on each other. But it also involves grabbing a this setting.
random stranger and violating their personal space, so it's not These opening lines also start to establish the poem's form. "At
exactly reassuring! Finally, the speaker tells the reader to "pay the Bus Station" has no meter
meter, but at first, it looks as if it might

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feature some kind of rh rhyme
yme scheme
scheme. Lines 2 and 5 make a full During the battle
rhyme ("station
ation"/"strangulation
ation"), while lines 3 and 4 contain an to gain entry
identical rhyme ("tie"/"tie"). As the poem continues, however, to the bus,
this apparent formal rigor will loosen—possibly mirroring the
way the reader is supposed to loosen their tie, shirt, etc. The This anaphor
anaphoraa will continue: the next and final sentence will
poem will keep using identical rhymes here and there, but also begin with "During" (line 26), and "during" will also repeat,
basically, it's free vverse
erse. It also uses heavy enjambment from mid-sentence, at the start of line 21. These repetitions lend
the opening lines onward, creating a jerky, unpredictable some structure to the speaker's free-flowing, increasingly
rhythm that suits its tense, chaotic atmosphere. complex instructions. The recurring "During" also highlights
the fact that this boarding process is a feat of endurance! What
LINES 6-10 would normally take a few seconds stretches out over a longer
During the fight ... timeframe.
... losing the buttons. Meanwhile, the phrase "the bus" occurs twice in this passage. It
Lines 6-10 start to depict the violence foreshadowed in the has already occurred three times previously (in the title, line 2,
opening lines. and line 7), and it will pop up again two more times (lines 25 and
There will be a "fight / to board the bus," the speaker warns, so 30). These repetitions mimic the crowd's fixation on the
you, the reader, will need to "unfasten all [the] buttons / of bus—the object of their collective struggle. As in the previous
[your] shirt and jacket" to keep them from flying off in the four lines ("b
board the bus [...] buttons [...] buttons"), alliter
alliterativ
ativee
brawl. (The implication is that they're more likely to pop off—or /b/ words ("bbattle," "b
bus," "b
both," "b
bus") give this passage a
are easier to tear off—a tightly fastened article of clothing than punchy, percussive sound, evoking the violent jostling of the
a loose one.) This brawl also explains the earlier advice to crowd.
"prevent strangulation" by loosening "your tie." Once the crowd
LINES 17-22
gets rowdy, it might accidentally (or purposely!) pull your
necktie and choke you. you hang in ...
... at the door,
The word "buttons" appears at the end of line 8 and line 10, just
as "tie" ended both line 3 and line 4. These repetitions make the Lines 17-18 detail what will happen when "you," the would-be
poem's tone sound slightly stilted. Rather than casually saying, passenger, "are hauled" up into the bus:
"Undo the buttons on your shirt and jacket so they don't fly off,"
the speaker instructs: you hang in the air
and the shoes may come off,
unfasten all buttons
of the shirt and jacket No wonder the speaker advised you to "tighten [your]
to avoid losing the buttons
buttons. shoelaces"! As the crowd drags you up the steps of the bus,
your feet will be swept off the ground, and your dangling shoes
This formal-sounding speech adds to the speaker's air of might fall or be stolen.
detached authority. The speaker almost seems to be issuing Lines 19-22 then continue the sentence, which stretches all the
official guidelines (as opposed to, say, advising a friend). Their way from line 11 to line 25 and gets grammatically messier as it
calm detachment contrasts markedly—perhaps eerily—with the goes along. The grammatical chaos, of course, mirrors the
up-close-and-personal "fight" they're describing. chaos of the crowd. The speaker warns that shoes aren't all
"you" risk losing:
LINES 11-16
During the battle ... tighten your belt
... into the bus, to avoid being undressed
In lines 11-16, the trouble at the bus station escalates further. during the scrambling
Now the "fight / to board the bus" is a full-scale "battle / to gain at the door,
entry / to the bus." The speaker warns "you" (the reader/would-
be passenger) to "tighten both shoelaces" before being "hauled In other words, the crowd is so unruly that they might end up
/ into the bus." In other words, even when you succeed in pantsing you. The solution, according to the speaker, is to
boarding, you won't be climbing those bus steps—the crowd will "tighten" your belt along with your shoelaces.
physically drag you up them! Notice that virtually all the speaker's advice involves tightening,
Notice that this is the second sentence in a row that begins loosening, or removing clothing and accessories. The speaker
with the word "During": does not suggest any kind of appeal to the crowd, such as

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asking people to calm down or be patient. Instead, the speaker In these instructions, the speaker sounds colder and more
treats the crowd as a force you can't control, and that may not detached than ever. "Pay no attention to human sounds" seems
even be able to control itself. (Consider the passive voice in line to imply that "you" should remain indifferent to those around
15: "you are hauled" by the crowd; the crowd doesn't you—even if they're crying out in pain, anger, fear, etc. (Notice
purposefully haul you.) The best way to handle this turmoil, the how, in contrast with the poem's detailed visual imagery
imagery, the
speaker suggests, is to adjust what you're wearing as if gearing speaker doesn't even bother to describe these "sounds" in
up for battle. In fact, the very threat of "being detail.) "Words lose meaning" might mean that people in a
undressed"—losing your refined clothes, which seem to public brawl lose the ability to communicate coherently;
symbolize dignity and civility—evokes a disturbing, war-like meaningful exchanges dissolve into inarticulate shouting. More
scenario in which the normal rules of human conduct have cynically, the speaker might be suggesting that you can say
broken down. anything you want, no matter how hurtful, in such a scenario,
because all social rules have disintegrated. "Until you are inside
LINES 23-25 the bus"—that is, until you've gotten what you want and settled
remove your spectacles ... down—anything goes.
... in the bus. By the end, then, the battle to board the bus seems to
Lines 23-25 urge "you" to make one last adjustment to your symbolize a total breakdown in social order. Although it's a
clothes/accessories as you fight your way through the crowd: comic scenario in some ways (the prospect of the crowd
"undress[ing]" you as you "hang in the air" sounds like
remove your spectacles slapstick), it also carries the disturbing suggestion that even
and hold tight to someone trivial human conflicts can erupt into violence. Even
until you are in the bus. distinguished-looking commuters can suddenly find themselves
in a knock-down, drag-out "battle," as if the threat of war is
On the literal level, the speaker means that "you" should take always lurking behind normal civilian life.
off your glasses so that they don't fall off and break in the
commotion. But because glasses are symbolically associated
with intellect, wisdom, clarity, refinement, etc., taking them off SYMBOLS
might represent a reversion to brute instinct (and/or a loss of
judgment). In fact, lines 26-30 will imply that this crowd "battle" CLOTHING/ACCESSORIES
makes its participants act less "human."
The poem mentions a number of clothes and
The speaker also advises "hold[ing] tight to accessories: "tie," "shirt and jacket," "shoes," "belt,"
someone"—presumably, for balance—as you push toward the and "spectacles." These items evoke professional attire, which is
door. On the one hand, this detail seems to illustrate some supposed to be a marker of dignity and respectability. Clothing
human interdependency amid all the conflict. Even in an "every itself is a marker of human culture (people wear it; animals
man for himself" situation, the poem suggests, people still have don't). In the poem, then, clothes and accessories symbolize the
to lean on each other sometimes. On the other hand, grabbing dignity, respectability, and civility that are endangered or lost in
onto a stranger is most likely a violation of personal boundaries the scuffle to board the bus.
(the "someone" might not want you holding onto them!). In that
way, it's another illustration of civility breaking down. The speaker repeatedly warns that this bus-stop "battle" may
result in the loss of clothing. The jostling crowd might tear off
LINES 26-30 your shoes, pants, etc. These images tie in with the warning
During the climb ... that "words lose meaning / until you are inside the bus." Amid
... inside the bus. this kind of scuffle, the speaker suggests, people can lose what
separates them from other animals: civilized etiquette,
Lines 26-30 close the poem on an unsettling note. The speaker
articulate speech, compassion for "human sounds" of distress,
suggests that not only social etiquette but communication itself
etc. Basically, people can lose their humanity when they're part
will break down in the bus-stop battle:
of an unruly crowd.
During the climb Even the buttons of the clothes are symbolic. Buttons hold
pay no attention to human sounds, clothes together, and they sometimes feature in metaphors of
also bear in mind restraint (e.g., "buttoned up," meaning inhibited). Thus, the
words lose meaning speaker's instruction to "unfasten all buttons" hints that this
until you are inside the bus. crowd battle will be a free-for-all. As "you" participate, you'll
have to loosen some of your normal inhibitions, and you'll be

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lucky not to "los[e] the buttons" (lose your restraint, dignity, tie
tie." A more casual way of saying this would be, "pull down or
humanity, etc.) altogether. remove your tie." The stilted repetition adds to the speaker's air
of dry authority, making the poem sound more like formal
Where this symbol appears in the poem: instructions than informal advice.

• Lines 3-5: “pull down your tie / or remove the tie / to Finally, the constant repetition of "the bus" turns the bus into
prevent strangulation.” an object of intense focus. The phrase appears seven times in
• Lines 8-10: “unfasten all buttons / of the shirt and jacket the poem, counting the title. The result is that the poem itself
/ to avoid losing the buttons.” seems to mimic the crowd's fixation; the speaker is as relentless
• Line 14: “tighten both shoelaces” in saying "the bus" as the passengers are in boarding it.
• Lines 18-20: “and the shoes may come off, / tighten your (The repetition of "During" at the start of lines 6, 11, and 26
belt / to avoid being undressed” takes the form of anaphor
anaphoraa, discussed as a separate device in
• Line 23: “remove your spectacles” this guide.)

Where Repetition appears in the poem:

THE BUS
Although the poem never explains where this bus has • Line 2: “the bus”
stopped or where it's headed, the passengers are • Line 3: “tie”
willing to fight fiercely to board it. It seems to be a vehicle for • Line 4: “tie”
their desires or aspirations, representing some opportunity • Line 6: “During”
they want to "gain entry / to" and avoid missing out on. • Line 7: “the bus”
• Line 8: “buttons”
It's worth noting that buses are often used by commuters (and • Line 10: “buttons”
the "you" in the poem is wearing professional attire: jacket, tie, • Line 11: “During”
etc.). Some of these passengers may be scrambling to get to • Line 13: “the bus”
work on time, so that they don't risk losing money, professional • Line 14: “tighten”
opportunities, etc. Symbolically
Symbolically, then, the bus is linked with the • Line 16: “the bus”
daily rat race—and the battle to board it seems to illustrate how • Line 19: “tighten”
the rat race can make people's behavior less "human" (line 27). • Line 21: “during”
• Line 24: “tight”
Where this symbol appears in the poem: • Line 25: “the bus”
• Line 26: “During”
• Lines 6-30
• Line 30: “the bus”

ANAPHORA
POETIC DEVICES As part of its frequent repetition of words and phrases, the
REPETITION poem uses the special form of repetition called anaphor
anaphoraa. Its
last three sentences—spanning 25 of its 30 lines—all begin with
The poem repeats a number of important words and phrases, the word "During." The same word also appears at the start of
including "tie," "buttons," "tight"/"tighten," and "the bus." Notice line 21 (though in the middle rather than the beginning of a
that the first three of these involve tying, fastening, or sentence).
tightening. Clearly, there's a running theme here!
This repetition adds a bit of structure to a poem that's
The speaker first instructs the reader to loosen or unfasten their otherwise fairly chaotic (both in terms of its content and its
necktie, shirt, and jacket, so as to avoid losing buttons or getting form: jaggedly enjambed free vverse
erse). It's a poem of instruction,
strangled. Then the speaker instructs the reader to tighten their so anaphora gives the sense that the speaker is instructing
shoelaces, belt, and grip on "someone" in order to keep their "you" in a clear, logical fashion—however startling the actual
balance and avoid losing entire articles of clothing. These advice may be.
repetitions help underline how chaotic the crowd is: it can both
crush "you" and tear things away from you. In order to navigate Finally, the repetition of the word "During," specifically, seems
the chaos, you have to hold tight and stay loose at the same to stretch out the timeframe of this bus-station "battle." What
time. would normally be a five-second activity—boarding a
bus—becomes a prolonged struggle that "you" and other
Repetition also makes the speaker's tone sound a bit passengers are enduring. As a result, there's little suggestion of
mechanical, as in the phrase "pull down your tie / or remove the progress; even the final line ("until you are inside the bus")

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doesn't describe actually reaching the goal. enjambment breaks up the flow of the narrative, giving the
poem a jagged, unpredictable rhythm. This effect helps evoke
Where Anaphor
Anaphoraa appears in the poem: the disorder of the crowd scene and allows the reader to pause
over details for a moment as they rush by. Heavy enjambment
• Line 6: “During” also makes the lines of the stanza look narrow or squeezed,
• Line 11: “During” perhaps mimicking the tight crush of the crowd and/or the
• Line 26: “During”
speaker's instructions to "tighten" one's belt and shoelaces.
In some cases, enjambment draws attention to important
ALLITERATION
words, usually when they fall just before the line break
break. For
The poem makes heavy use of alliter
alliteration
ation, especially /b/ example, it emphasizes that boarding the bus requires a "fight"
alliteration. Lines 7-20 contain no fewer than 10 /b/ words: (line 6), a "battle" (line 11), and a lot of "scrambling" (line 21). It
"b
board," "bbus" (three times), "b
buttons" (twice), "bbattle," "b
both," stresses the verbs "hauled" (line 15) and "climb" (line 26),
"b
belt," and "b
being." The other lines of the poem contain some, making them sound more effortful and intense. It even makes
too, although they're not clustered as densely: "bus" (line 2), the words "hang in the air" seem to hang in midair for a moment
"bus" (line 25), "bear" (line 28), and "bus" again (line 30). before the next line completes the phrase!
All this /b/ alliteration gives the poem a rough, percussive,
cacophonous sound, mimicking the violence of the "battle" to Where Enjambment appears in the poem:
board the bus. As those hard consonants rain down—boom,
• Lines 1-2: “arrive / at”
boom, boom—readers can practically hear the crowd jostling
• Lines 2-3: “station / pull”
and "scrambling." There's also a bit of /h/ alliteration in lines 15
• Lines 3-4: “tie / or”
and 17: "when you are hauled / into the bus, / you hang in the
• Lines 4-5: “tie / to”
air." Again, the repetition of sounds underscores the intensity of
• Lines 6-7: “fight / to”
the action.
• Lines 8-9: “buttons / of”
As mentioned elsewhere, the poem's frequent repetition of • Lines 9-10: “jacket / to”
"bus" mimics the passengers' singular focus on boarding the • Lines 11-12: “battle / to”
bus. The high number of other /b/ words could be seen as • Lines 12-13: “entry / to”
echoing and supporting that effect; in other words, alliteration • Lines 14-15: “shoelaces / for”
helps make the already prominent word "bus" even more • Lines 15-16: “hauled / into”
prominent. • Lines 17-18: “air / and”
• Lines 19-20: “belt / to”
Where Alliter
Alliteration
ation appears in the poem: • Lines 20-21: “undressed / during”
• Lines 21-22: “scrambling / at”
• Line 7: “board,” “bus” • Lines 23-24: “spectacles / and”
• Line 8: “buttons” • Lines 24-25: “someone / until”
• Line 10: “buttons” • Lines 26-27: “climb / pay”
• Line 11: “battle” • Lines 28-29: “mind / words”
• Line 13: “bus” • Lines 29-30: “meaning / until”
• Line 14: “both”
• Line 15: “hauled”
IMAGERY
• Line 16: “bus”
• Line 17: “hang” The poem presents startling, chaotic, even violent imagery in a
• Line 19: “belt” restrained, matter-of-fact tone
tone. It's as if the speaker is trying to
• Line 20: “being” describe a dramatic scene with as little drama as possible. This
unexpected contrast heightens the power of the imagery, as the
ENJAMBMENT wildest elements of the "battle" at the bus stop are left to the
reader's imagination.
The poem is heavily enjambed throughout; only 9 of its 30 lines
are end-stopped
end-stopped. In fact, in a few instances, the poem drops Most of the poem's imagery is visual. Take lines 15-25, for
line-ending punctuation where it would normally appear. example—and take a moment to think about what they're really
Commas might normally fall at the ends of lines 2, 14, and 16, saying:
but the poet chooses to omit them, making the poem look even
more enjambed. for, when you are hauled
into the bus,
Why might the poet have made these choices? For one thing,
you hang in the air

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and the shoes may come off, mirroring the unfolding chaos of the scene it's describing.
tighten your belt Likewise, the lack of rigid meter and rhyme aligns with the
to avoid being undressed messiness of the crowd scene, as well as the humble setting (a
during the scrambling bus station) and the speaker's fairly plain, direct speech. It
at the door, would be harder to convincingly depict this kind of turmoil
remove your spectacles using neat, regular, rhyming lines!
and hold tight to someone At the same time, the repetition of key words and phrases
until you are in the bus. provides a hint of order within the general disorder. In
particular, the repeated emphasis on "the bus" (which ends the
This is a crowd so frenzied that it will physically sweep "you" off poem's last two sentences as well as five of its lines) highlights
your feet and "haul[]" you up the steps of the bus! It's an the cause of all this turmoil—which is also the object of the
outlandish, almost cartoonish image, but the speaker describes crowd's singular focus.
it with calm restraint—an approach that somehow makes it
more unsettling. METER
One might expect that the poem would contain more sound As a free vverse
erse poem, "At the Bus Station" doesn't contain a
imagery, since this "battle" is undoubtedly noisy. But here, too, meter (or a rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme). It unfolds organically and
the speaker chooses restraint, even understatement
understatement. The only conversationally, over the course of a single long stanza
stanza, in lines
real reference to sound is an instruction to ignore it: "pay no ranging from three to nine syllables.
attention to human sounds" (line 27). By not describing the This style fits the poem's description of a messy, chaotic scene.
crowd noise in any detail, the speaker seems to be following A poem with a regular, even rhythm wouldn't capture the chaos
their own advice. The reader's imagination has to fill in the gap: nearly as well! Even the relatively short lines seem to mirror
these "human sounds" are probably cries of pain, distress, the tight squeeze "you" encounter at the bus station; it's as if
anger, fear, etc. With disturbing calm, the speaker implies that the language struggles to move forward, like the crowd
"you" have to put these cries—and any resulting compassion struggling to board the bus. The narrow lines also pair well with
you might feel—out of mind in order to achieve your goal of the instructions to "tighten" your shoelaces and belt (lines 14
boarding the bus. and 19).

Where Imagery appears in the poem: RHYME SCHEME

"At the Bus Station" is a free vverse
erse poem, so it has no rh
rhyme
yme
• Lines 3-27
scheme
scheme. However, it contains one stray end rh rhyme
yme
("station
ation"/"strangulation
ation" in lines 2 and 5), and it frequently
repeats line-ending words. Lines 3 and 4 both end with "tie,"
VOCABULARY lines 8 and 10 end with "buttons," and lines 7, 13, 16, 25, and 30
all end with "bus." Repetition of words at the ends of lines is
Strangulation (Lines 4-5) - Constriction (choking/squeezing) of
sometimes called identical rhyme.
the neck, hindering blood flow to the brain and potentially
causing asphyxiation. This effect isn't consistent enough to make "At the Bus Station"
sound like a rhymed poem, but it's clearly important to the
Hauled (Lines 15-16) - Dragged, hoisted, or carried roughly.
poem's form. The repetition of "bus," in particular, helps
Scrambling (Lines 21-22) - Scuffling, jostling, etc. illustrate the passengers' obsessive focus on getting aboard the
Spectacles (Line 23) - Eyeglasses. vehicle. The inconsistent repetitions, which at least hint at
rhyme, also reflect the disorder of the scene while suggesting a
struggle to achieve some pattern or order. (After all, the unruly
FORM, METER, & RHYME passengers are trying to squeeze into a small container.)

FORM
The poem consists of a single long stanza. It's written in free SPEAKER
verse
erse, meaning that it doesn't follow a meter or rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme. The poem's speaker addresses "you," the reader, with an air of
However, it does feature sporadic identical rhyme, as several authority, telling you how to navigate a rough-and-tumble
words appear more than once at the ends of lines ("tie" and crowd "at the bus station." However, it's not clear exactly who
"buttons" appear twice, while "bus" appears five times). this authority figure is. A stand-in for the poet? A savvy local
These formal features serve the poem in several ways. The resident? A travel guide of some sort? Regardless, their advice
unbroken stanza causes the poem to unfold in one long rush, seems informed by experience. The specificity of their

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instructions suggests that they know this station well and have poetry. One of his stories, called "The Commuter" (from the
been through this wild experience before. Their language is 2006 collection Not Another Day, 2006), contains a scene
generally plainspoken and direct, but it has a slight formality closely resembling the one described in "At the Bus Station."
(for example, it avoids contractions, using "you are" rather than Notice the similar details (highlighted):
"you're") that matches their authoritative tone
tone.
In a way, the speaker's ambiguous identity seems to suit the I arriv
arrived
ed at the bus stop [...] It was a huge scr
scrambling
ambling
ambiguous situation they're describing. "You," the reader, don't fight as people tried to board the mini-buses
mini-buses. There
know who this is advice is coming from any more than you know was the semblance of a queue but very few people
where this station is or why it's so chaotic. You just get thrown recognised its purpose. [...] I found myself inside a red
into the mix, so to speak, and have to trust that the speaker vehicle. How I managed I'm not sure. But my feet
knows what they're talking about. The fact that the speaker's didn
didn't
't touch the ground until I was inside. It was a
voice, like the poem's setting
setting, is generic also suggests that this daily routine. Work actually began at the bus stop. I
chaotic crowd activity could happen pretty much anywhere. had become adept even if I lost shirt buttons in the
process.

SETTING The two works were written within a decade of each other, so
the overlap probably isn't a coincidence. The "fight" in the story
The poem's title specifies its setting
setting: a bus station. As the involves commuters to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, at a
speaker's instructions to "you" make clear, this is a very bus station forty miles away. Although the setting of "At the Bus
crowded station, where just "board[ing] the bus" requires a Station" is never named, it may have been inspired by a similar
"fight" with the crowd. The "scrambling" might get so intense, in location.
fact, that the ordinary boundaries of civility might break down
completely. The speaker warns that your "shoes may come off," HISTORICAL CONTEXT
that you might be "undressed" (have clothes torn off your The poem contains no direct historical references, and no
body), and that you even risk "strangulation" with your own details that narrow it down to a specific period (although it
necktie. clearly takes place sometime after the early 20th century, when
Notably, the poem doesn't specify a geographical location. The commuting via motor bus became common).
crowd of passengers seems large, so the setting is probably a As mentioned above, the poem's language overlaps with one of
town or city, but otherwise, this could be any bus station in the Chingono's stories, "The Commuter," also written during the
world. The implication is that civility can break down anywhere, last phase of his career. The story provides a wealth of
at any time; violence always lurks below the surface of human descriptive detail about the bus station itself, as well as the
life, even among dignified commuters in "jacket[s]," "tie[s]," commuter town of Norton, Zimbabwe, where the station is
"spectacles," etc. located. It also offers some political and historical context
At the same time, the poem's details resemble a scene in about the area, as in these sentences:
Chingono's short story "The Commuter" (Not Another Day,
2006), which describes a "huge scrambling fight" at a bus Norton had become a dormitory to Harare's
station. That story is set in Chingono's native Zimbabwe and workforce. Although the [bus] journey was
features commuters to Harare (the Zimbabwean capital), so expensive, most companies had shut down in our
the author may have imagined the poem, too, as taking place little town that once held so much promise. In
close to home. addition, Harare had a housing shortage.

It's notable, however, that the poem omits any context of this
CONTEXT kind. It generalizes its setting so that its events might be taking
place anywhere in the world. This approach makes the poem's
LITERARY CONTEXT scenario more universal, almost parable-like—an illustration of
Julius Chingono's "At the Bus Station" appears in the 2011 the way violence can erupt anywhere people are found.
collection Together: Stories and Poems, a collaborative volume of
fiction and poetry that also features work by poet and novelist
John Eppel. The book was published the year Chingono died at MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
age 65, after a career as one of the most distinguished
Zimbabwean authors of his era.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
• A Video of the P
Poet
oet — Watch a clip of Julius Chingono
Chingono wrote short stories, a novel, and a play as well as
discussing how he got started as a writer.

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 Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com
(https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/watch?v=ihr9aP
outube.com/watch?v=ihr9aPejsqI)
ejsqI) (https:/
(https://www
/www.poetryinternational.org/pi/int_article/
.poetryinternational.org/pi/int_article/
18795/V
18795/Vale-Julius-Chingono/en/tile
ale-Julius-Chingono/en/tile))
• Remembering Chingono — A fellow writer's reminiscence
about the poet and his legacy.
(https:/
(https://www
/www.thezimbabwean.co/2011/01/obituary-on-
.thezimbabwean.co/2011/01/obituary-on-
the-road-with-the-julius-chingono/)
HOW T
TO
O CITE
• The PPoet's
oet's Obituary — Read a 2011 obituary for MLA
Chingono, featuring "At the Bus Station."
Allen, Austin. "At the Bus Station." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 6 Apr
(http:/
(http://booksliv
/bookslive.co.za/blog/2011/01/05/julius-chingono-
e.co.za/blog/2011/01/05/julius-chingono-
2022. Web. 11 Apr 2022.
renowned-zimbabwean-poet-1946-2011/)
• The PPoet's
oet's Life and Career — Read a retrospective on CHICAGO MANUAL
Chingono in the Zimbabwean newspaper The Herald. Allen, Austin. "At the Bus Station." LitCharts LLC, April 6, 2022.
(https:/
(https://www
/www.her
.herald.co.zw/lest-we-forget-chingono/)
ald.co.zw/lest-we-forget-chingono/) Retrieved April 11, 2022. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/julius-
chingono/at-the-bus-station.
• More on the PPoet's
oet's LLegacy
egacy — Read a feature on Chingono
at Poetry International.

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