37 Corbett

37 Corbett

Anyone could be forgiven

for imagining

the Corbett bus is inspired

by the slime trail of a delirious snail

loose on a scale model of Twin Peaks.

Hard to say for certain

what exactly the snail ingested

at the intersection of

miniature Haight

and miniature Masonic:

probably not lettuce.

Whatever it was, it let that

tiny gastropod brain

steer a course as free as its eyestalks.

If any snail could be said to careen

it was this one.

As for the transit planners

who look to nature for inspiration?

Anticipating that inevitably buses

will sometimes crawl through the city

they sought out a master of the discipline.

Mucus meanders over the plaster landscape,

a course crossing itself ten times

faithfully reproduced on the map,

the insight of a high snail

charting Muni’s highest stop.

Its bulging eyes, on swivels,

take in every view from the crestline

before sliding back down

miniature Market Street

looking for something

to eat.