I love this poem. In the spring of 2006, one of my best friends died of a heart attack and at his memorial one our friends recited this poem, after seeing it on the bus. It simply and eloquently described our experience of losing someone who was always “there,” and then one day, wasn’t. This poem is very personal to me. It is plain and melancholy and soothing to see it often.

— Harmony Separation

I am a regular Tri-Met rider. After months of noticing—and admiring—“I Confess” on bus trips, I was surprised one Sunday to hear it being read from the pulpit of the First Unitarian Church. It was the weekly reading. After the numerous encounters with the poem, the delight, the cleverness, the truisms it had brought me, there was a special meaning for me that Sunday. It brought me even closer to the work, and I was glad.

— Mark I Confess

I remember this poem from way back in ‘97. I love the memories of riding the 14 from Hawthorne to PSU during the early years of my living here in Portland. “What a cool idea, poems to read on the buses,” I thought. And now I see poetry cards in other city transit systems that I visit, like New York.

— Barbara Sandanista Avioncitos