Recife To Natal By Bus Poem by Kim Barney

Fifty shades of green
is about what I've seen
so far on this bus ride.
Good thing we're inside
and not out there
because I swear
that rain we just had
would have soaked us
to the core.
So many trees!
Palms and countless
others I can't name.
Red soil, then brown,
then red again.
Posto Peixe Boi
we passed just now:
Manatee Service Station.
Wonder when they saw
a manatee here
this far inland.
More open now.
The only trees
are on the left,
a perfect row of palms
next to a straight fence
stretching on for miles.
Now trees of every kind
abound once more.
Fields of grasses
and grassy plants,
some taller than I
and almost half as wide.
The curious in me
wants to know the names
of all these exotic plants.
A horse appears suddenly
in the middle of the forest.
No house is visible
anywhere near,
yet he is tethered.
We're heading downhill.
It's drier here.
The greens are duller;
the leaves seem droopy.
Uphill once more. Bus seems
to be struggling.
Not again! I think, because
this is already our second
bus on this journey. The other
broke down after only five minutes.
Downhill again. Open fields,
crops harvested. Now a field
of tall plants which I'm sure
are sugarcane.
More trees, bushy ones. So dense
you can't see through, just the tops
of palms behind them.
The forest goes on and on,
just like this bus.
Will close my eyes now.
Wake me when we get there.