Bus Poems

SINGLE POEM

FROM: NORTHUMBRIA UNI TO: THE LATE SHOWS

• Saturday
• وارید
• RICHARD O'BRIEN & ADAM DIXON

MAX

• BUS >> POEMS
• SINGLE POEM
• FROM: NORTHUMBRIA UNI
• TO: THE LATE SHOWS
• Saturday
• WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

There are so many different types of tickets!

I assumed the people here would be cold but after I'd stood there long enough, looking at the babies and the buttons and all the different dogs the driver said 'It's OK, where do you wanna go?'

He said four pounds should be enough and I sat down and he was humming audibly for twenty-five minutes.

LEDG

TO: THE LATE SHOWS

Saturday

I WANT TO BE ON HIS BUS

At Sandyford once, I saw a guy get off and give the driver a Mars bar.

I heard a man who was furious because his vape was dead.

I have my headphones in but not on, you see - it helps me eavesdrop more efficiently. 'I've got £68, I swear it's my birthday!'

Hit or miss, buses, aren't they? But you do get all sorts:

school runs and match-day crowds and someone's guide dog being sick or trying to get on with last year's ticket or trying to bring on a sealed bucket of pre-mixed cement, and that racist on the 97 whose false teeth kept falling down as he was talking.

At Barras Bridge, I saw a driver with a handlebar moustache like a strongman and I thought I want to be on his bus.

BUS>>>>POLME

• still wonder:
• BUS POEMS
• SINGLE POEM

FROM: NORTHUMBRIA UNI TO: THE LATE SHOWS

Saturday

THE PERISCOPE

It was one of life's simple pleasures, Climbing up that steep ascent. I'd reach the lofty Summit, Breathless, tired, but exhilarated.

I liked the vista from the top deck, Sat in the clouds with angels looking upon a world so small.

The familiar sights of the town, my home;

Sandstone, concrete and steel.

But I always chose to look down the periscope.

A lens to the master and the machine. The driver at one with the driven, Dials, levers and hands on the wheel.

Mam would pull me from my portal, Chastised for my boyish curiosity. These days it's just a camera but I

Who watches the watcher and the watched?

• SINGLE POEM
• FROM: NORTHUMBRIA UNI
• TO: THE LATE SHOWS
• Saturday

BUS POEMS

With thanks to all who contributed their stories, shared memories, and told us transit tales of Tyneside. Gratitude to Go North East and North East Museums.

Bus poems was a participatory event part of the Late Shows 2025. Richard and Adam mapped people's stories and then created poetry subsequently performed on the Late Shows' shuttle bus.

Poems by Richard O'Brien and Adam Dixon Zine by Adam Dixon

BUS >>>POEMS