Frank H Buck on the Rocks

(2 Clement)

Frank H Buck on the Rocks (2 Clement)


This Car Direct

To the Tanker

Frank H Buck

On the rocks.


There are the remains

of Frank H Buck

built at Union Iron Works:

she quickly became

accustomed to calamity

and was pressed to

wartime service.


Fog bound at the gate,

she crossed course with

President Coolidge

of Dollar Lines,

and though the crew

came safely to the shore,

Frank H Buck

has finally come to rest

at Mile Rock Beach

beside Lyman Stewart,

her patient sister.


Ride the 2 Clement

from the ferries

to Lands End,

Point Lobos and Sutro Baths

direct to the tanker

On the rocks.

Footnotes to the poem: This poem was inspired by a photo from 1937 of the 2 Clement, at that time a streetcar operated by the Market Street Railway. The 2 Clement rails ran all the way across the city to Sutro Baths, rather than terminating at Park Presidio Blvd, as the Muni bus route does today.