This is part of the “I LOVE YOUR POEM!” series, in which people submit on behalf of local poets whose work they admire and write about why they do. The idea is not only to highlight great work, especially from those who may not submit the work themselves, but also to create a big gushy lovefest in the community. If you’re interested in submitting on behalf of a local poet you love you can check out the submission guidelines here.

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I love Shana Lara’s “Bus Poems.” Like Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems they raise the level of the everyday to the glorious and effervescent, the best thing a poem can do. What else could I say? When she speaks of biting her lip you can taste the blood. This poem speaks for itself. 

31 Mar 2023

Once you bite yr lip
The blood drawn
Swells for a week
The way love is
A cold night but the kind 
You embrace
Hold it like the coming

Waking up to a loud world
Forgetting to drink enough water
Running errands for someone else
The hangover from failures of past

The man in the parking lot nearly topples over the shopping cart corral
W/ child in his arms
She cries at fresh bruises
The shock of nearly being dropped from security

Late afternoon
Some cars have more dust than others
When last did you last check yr oil?

A woman in her 50's draped a Pashmina scarf across her body
Over a white linen dress

There's much dust in the air
Hard card wheels rattle in a loud world
Engine idles
Fresh landscaping

A gentleman carrying 3 green apples
12 tomatoes 
His phone rings from his pocket
Set on standard classic landline bell
He takes the call in time
Puts in reverse

Woman walks her long haired
Black dog
As the crow flies over consorting w/ the raven

8am isn't early for those who sleep at night
10pm is my noon
New York accent says he sees the grandparents playing a larger role in the kids lives
Walks inside to buy 4 gallons of water
Mud on cars wiped clear frm window
It's a slow start day like one hugs the end of night
Reusable shopping bags
The Civic stops
For pedestrians but not the sign

Have I told you, and how
Do you believe-- crane across the sky
Optical lolly pop
Turn right first on the left
Does that sound familiar?
Here's yr iron it out
Here's yr point of choice

Mornin' darlin'
Those aren't pancakes
Oh boy on empty campus
The suede will loosen over time
That's just how it wrks

Glide onto foothills
3 tiny red flags in the soil flick in the stirring
Silent approach
Slow dwn @ Valmont & hunger growls
It felt real, felt a form of precious

Does this button hole line up
Or are we foolin' w/ uneven seaming
If it rips then fix it
Until then I've got my eyes counting 
Every crow baking a sixpence pie
Did I turn off the oven

Last night broken beige farmhouse
Windows of reflected
Only when the sun hits at that curved angle
Patched asphalt
Ride on play that song another go another try are you watching 
Momentum build God

- Shana Lara

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Thomas Peters is the owner of the Beat Book Shop (1200 Pearl St, Boulder) and host of the 35-year-running So You’re a Poet reading series (Every Monday 830pm, Wesley Chapel, 1290 Folsom St, Boulder). Books include Certain Birds, 100 Missed Train Stations, and 1985.

Shana Lara is a poet, mystic, and interdimensional-cantaloupe.