Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Simon J. Ortiz’s "Notes on the Steps of the San Diego Bus Depot" is a contemplative poem that juxtaposes the mundane with the profound, blending observations of urban construction, a moment of connection with a horse, and an encounter with poetry into a meditation on perception, history, and the unexpected. Ortiz, an Acoma Pueblo poet, often writes with an acute awareness of place, displacement, and the intersections between Indigenous experience and contemporary American life. In this poem, the speaker’s reflections weave together external details and internal reverberations, creating a layered portrait of a moment in transit.

The opening lines set the stage with an image of construction: “Across the street / America is putting together another Federal Building.” The specificity of “Federal Building” immediately invokes government presence, suggesting themes of institutional power, bureaucracy, and the ever-changing American landscape. The phrase “America is putting together” is both literal—referring to physical construction—and figurative, implying an ongoing act of nation-building, perhaps with an undercurrent of critique. For Indigenous peoples, federal buildings symbolize not just governance but also policies of displacement, control, and negotiation. This subtle yet potent line positions the speaker in a space where history and modernity intersect, where a bus depot—a site of movement and waiting—exists alongside a structure emblematic of permanence and authority.

The poem then introduces “The Wisconsin Horse,” a striking and unexpected presence in the urban setting. The horse “looks through the chainlink fence,” a detail that suggests restriction or confinement, a metaphorical echo of barriers both physical and existential. The horse’s gaze is personified—“He turns and tells me with his eyes”—inviting the reader to interpret what message might pass between animal and human. This moment recalls a theme found in much of Ortiz’s work: a profound connection to the natural world, even within spaces of steel and asphalt. The horse’s gaze, silent yet communicative, contrasts with the bureaucratic construction occurring across the street, implying a tension between nature and imposed structures, freedom and containment.

The poem takes a sudden turn with the discovery of poet Marge Piercy in a newspaper. Piercy, known for her feminist and political poetry, becomes a presence in the speaker’s thoughts, her words triggering an internal shift. “Her thick sensual lips are about to move upon the earth.” This highly tactile, almost intimate image imbues poetry with a physical, earthbound power, suggesting that words have a corporeal and transformative presence. The description of Piercy’s “dark eyes” seeing “beyond the farthest ridge” aligns her with a visionary role, a poet whose words reach into the depths of experience and time. Ortiz emphasizes the resonance of poetry—“Her words slant into me and resonate and will echo for a long time. / For centuries maybe.”—suggesting that art, like history, leaves an imprint far beyond its initial moment.

The poem’s closing lines shift tone once again, veering toward the existential: “I don’t think the sky will fall today, but I need a few surprises badly.” This final statement encapsulates a mood of weary expectation, a recognition that life’s routines continue but with a longing for something unexpected to disrupt them. The phrase “I don’t think the sky will fall” suggests a tempered reassurance—disaster is not imminent—but also implies that a certain tension exists, that the speaker is aware of forces beyond control. The desire for “a few surprises” reflects both a craving for change and an acknowledgment of the mundane realities of waiting, reading, and observing at a bus depot.

Ortiz’s free verse structure allows the poem to flow naturally, mirroring the thought process of someone engaged in quiet reflection. The lack of punctuation creates a seamless movement between external and internal landscapes, reinforcing the idea that perception is fluid, that a moment sitting on the steps of a bus depot can hold within it layers of history, personal insight, and artistic revelation. The seemingly disparate elements—federal construction, an animal’s gaze, a poet’s words—coalesce into a meditation on presence, endurance, and the unexpected ways in which meaning emerges.

"Notes on the Steps of the San Diego Bus Depot" is a poem of observation and resonance, capturing a fleeting moment that expands into something larger. Through precise imagery and quiet yet powerful juxtapositions, Ortiz constructs a world where the bureaucratic and the organic, the historical and the immediate, the external and the internal all converge. The act of waiting at a bus depot becomes more than a passive moment; it becomes an occasion for reflection, connection, and the recognition that history and poetry continue to shape the present.

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