The Dudley Bus

Abstract

The Dudley Bus Martha Collins (bio) cambridge 2019 Harvard Shirt Shop 1885 Tobaccowalkers cell phones tourists now the bus: a dozen preschool kidsboard we circle Harvard Yard turn and pass where I once lived samebuilding bar and into Central more people on the sidewalk here on and offthe bus MIT and over the river and up to Haviland Street where I once lived baron the corner then Dunkin' Donuts now later forgot to mention no mentioned deletedthe people in Harvard Square looked mostly white some Asian occasional Black deletedthe preschool kids looked white-Black-Asian— but maybe noticed more that day because I knewmy ride would end at the first place I'd ever been [End Page 15] where my friend and I were the onlypeople we saw who looked like us— boston 1967 Because we lived just off Mass. Ave., just overthe river, just past the bus stop, because we were youngand new to the city, because we'd had some drinks,we decided to see where Dudley Station wasand got on the bus and rode to the end of the route. And although when we got off the bus we sawno people who looked like us, we found a barand ordered drinks, and when a man politely askedto join us and asked us to come to a party, becausewe were young and new to the city, we said Yes. And because we were young and new, we lovedthe party—the soul food, music, dancing—and stayed till dawn when someone burst in and saida friend had been stabbed, and the party was over. boston 2019 up to Symphony Hall where we used to up to the Orange Line T a Pride flag donde trabajan the woman beside to the Dunkin' Donuts Dunkin' Donuts once run-down those townhouses now so Medical Center more people off and [End Page 16] soon I'm the only person who looks like Roca: Less Jail, More Future and we are there dudley 2019 got off the bus and walked a littlepast Dunkin' Donuts The SilverSlipper (could it have been here . . . ?)and found the Dudley Cafe since 2015 and ordered a bowl and looked aroundthree women Black with computersconferring two women chattingwho looked like me a dozen teenagedkids Black-white-Asian around one table Need a Printer? Use Ours Black TriviaTuesdays 8–10 and outside the windowbundles balanced on two women's headsa sheer dress an elegant hijab her goldsandals his orange sneakers and shades— boston 2019 Waiting for the return bus I'm again the onlyexcept for a pale woman disheveled uncombed— then a man not sober not young: Anyone botheryou Lady I'll take care— and I'm back on the bus and back at Haviland Street where one night a whiteman followed me home and a Black prostitute put an arm around me: Anyone bother you Honeywe'll take care— on the steps of that building [End Page 17] where Berklee College Professional Writingnow occupies the space where I lived in my young white skin— how well did Itake care how well do I take care of whom Note: In December 2019, the residents of Roxbury voted overwhelmingly to have the name of Dudley Square changed to Nubian Square. [End Page 18] Martha Collins Martha Collins's most recent book of poetry is Because What Else Could I Do (Pittsburgh). She has published nine earlier volumes of poetry, including Admit One: An American Scrapbook (Pittsburgh), White Papers (Pittsburgh), and Blue Front (Graywolf), as well as four volumes of co-translated Vietnamese poetry. Collins founded the Creative Writing Program at University of Massachusetts-Boston and taught Creative Writing at Oberlin College for ten years. Copyright © 2020 University of Nebraska Press