Michael Frachioni - Bus Poems

Poets who practice law are a rarity, yet a few, like Wallace Stevens and Archibald MacLeish, hewed a path to literary fame while disguised Clark Kent-like as sensible attorneys. Michael Frachioni is a member of this secret society, too. In his daily bus commute to Pittsburgh, he finds time and space to read, observe, think and write, about characters on the bus and many other things. 

His premiere poetry collection, Bus Poems, falls into four distinct, but related, parts. “First Lights” are poems about starting out and, making one’s way — in writing and in life. Some other poets are evoked for advice or inspiration, including Billy Collins, Robert Frost, Rainer Maria Rilke, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman and William Carlos Williams. One powerful poem, “September 12,” compresses the nation’s grief and shock of 9/11 into the actions and gestures of one man attempting to absorb the unthinkable.

“Montana” serves as a detour to a beautiful place of the rugged Rockies and the arid, unforgiving landscape of the high plains.

In “Bus Poems,” the heart of this collection, Frachioni writes expressly about riding the bus, or the people one meets there, among them a painter, an elderly woman trying to quit smoking, and a couple of poor, lost souls at the bus stop.

“Eventide” concludes the book with poems about loss — from a pet to a parent — but always, ultimately, with hope.

In addition to poetry, which has honed all his other writing, and flying airplanes, which also taught him to pay close attention, Michael Frachioni has written and lectured on business and law, local history, cartography, and ancient Greek architecture. He is a member of the Allegheny Valley Poets, participating in poetry readings and workshops around Pittsburgh.

This is the 320th publication of The Poet’s Press.