diff --git a/ports/atmel-samd/boards/metro_m0_express/mpconfigboard.mk b/ports/atmel-samd/boards/metro_m0_express/mpconfigboard.mk
index ce46d7000a..b23a8b76e8 100644
--- a/ports/atmel-samd/boards/metro_m0_express/mpconfigboard.mk
+++ b/ports/atmel-samd/boards/metro_m0_express/mpconfigboard.mk
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ LONGINT_IMPL = MPZ
 CHIP_VARIANT = SAMD21G18A
 CHIP_FAMILY = samd21
 
+CFLAGS_INLINE_LIMIT = 70
+
 CIRCUITPY_NETWORK = 1
 MICROPY_PY_WIZNET5K = 5500
 
diff --git a/shared-bindings/displayio/Display.h b/shared-bindings/displayio/Display.h
index ee9106f778..7d6444a2d4 100644
--- a/shared-bindings/displayio/Display.h
+++ b/shared-bindings/displayio/Display.h
@@ -48,13 +48,15 @@ void common_hal_displayio_display_show(displayio_display_obj_t* self, displayio_
 
 void common_hal_displayio_display_refresh_soon(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
 
-void displayio_display_start_region_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint16_t x0, uint16_t y0, uint16_t x1, uint16_t y1);
-void displayio_display_finish_region_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
+bool displayio_display_begin_transaction(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
+void displayio_display_end_transaction(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
+
+void displayio_display_set_region_to_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint16_t x0, uint16_t y0, uint16_t x1, uint16_t y1);
 bool displayio_display_frame_queued(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
 
 bool displayio_display_refresh_queued(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
 void displayio_display_finish_refresh(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
-bool displayio_display_send_pixels(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint32_t* pixels, uint32_t length);
+void displayio_display_send_pixels(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint32_t* pixels, uint32_t length);
 
 bool common_hal_displayio_display_get_auto_brightness(displayio_display_obj_t* self);
 void common_hal_displayio_display_set_auto_brightness(displayio_display_obj_t* self, bool auto_brightness);
diff --git a/shared-bindings/displayio/FourWire.c b/shared-bindings/displayio/FourWire.c
index 56baa534b7..70cd427471 100644
--- a/shared-bindings/displayio/FourWire.c
+++ b/shared-bindings/displayio/FourWire.c
@@ -110,7 +110,12 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t displayio_fourwire_obj_send(mp_obj_t self, mp_obj_t command_obj,
     mp_buffer_info_t bufinfo;
     mp_get_buffer_raise(data_obj, &bufinfo, MP_BUFFER_READ);
 
-    common_hal_displayio_fourwire_begin_transaction(self);
+    // Wait for display bus to be available.
+    while (!common_hal_displayio_fourwire_begin_transaction(self)) {
+#ifdef MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP
+        MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP ;
+#endif
+    }
     common_hal_displayio_fourwire_send(self, true, &command, 1);
     common_hal_displayio_fourwire_send(self, false, ((uint8_t*) bufinfo.buf), bufinfo.len);
     common_hal_displayio_fourwire_end_transaction(self);
diff --git a/shared-bindings/displayio/ParallelBus.c b/shared-bindings/displayio/ParallelBus.c
index a54a844719..6a499ed069 100644
--- a/shared-bindings/displayio/ParallelBus.c
+++ b/shared-bindings/displayio/ParallelBus.c
@@ -114,7 +114,12 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t displayio_parallelbus_obj_send(mp_obj_t self, mp_obj_t command_o
     mp_buffer_info_t bufinfo;
     mp_get_buffer_raise(data_obj, &bufinfo, MP_BUFFER_READ);
 
-    common_hal_displayio_parallelbus_begin_transaction(self);
+    // Wait for display bus to be available.
+    while (!common_hal_displayio_parallelbus_begin_transaction(self)) {
+#ifdef MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP
+        MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP ;
+#endif
+    }
     common_hal_displayio_parallelbus_send(self, true, &command, 1);
     common_hal_displayio_parallelbus_send(self, false, ((uint8_t*) bufinfo.buf), bufinfo.len);
     common_hal_displayio_parallelbus_end_transaction(self);
diff --git a/shared-module/displayio/Display.c b/shared-module/displayio/Display.c
index 95c5cdfeca..0e76a868f5 100644
--- a/shared-module/displayio/Display.c
+++ b/shared-module/displayio/Display.c
@@ -69,7 +69,11 @@ void common_hal_displayio_display_construct(displayio_display_obj_t* self,
     self->bus = bus;
 
     uint32_t i = 0;
-    self->begin_transaction(self->bus);
+    while (!self->begin_transaction(self->bus)) {
+#ifdef MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP
+        MICROPY_VM_HOOK_LOOP ;
+#endif
+    }
     while (i < init_sequence_len) {
         uint8_t *cmd = init_sequence + i;
         uint8_t data_size = *(cmd + 1);
@@ -198,9 +202,16 @@ bool common_hal_displayio_display_set_brightness(displayio_display_obj_t* self,
     return ok;
 }
 
-void displayio_display_start_region_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint16_t x0, uint16_t y0, uint16_t x1, uint16_t y1) {
+bool displayio_display_begin_transaction(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
+    return self->begin_transaction(self->bus);
+}
+
+void displayio_display_end_transaction(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
+    self->end_transaction(self->bus);
+}
+
+void displayio_display_set_region_to_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint16_t x0, uint16_t y0, uint16_t x1, uint16_t y1) {
     // TODO(tannewt): Handle displays with single byte bounds.
-    self->begin_transaction(self->bus);
     uint16_t data[2];
     self->send(self->bus, true, &self->set_column_command, 1);
     data[0] = __builtin_bswap16(x0 + self->colstart);
@@ -213,10 +224,6 @@ void displayio_display_start_region_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint16
     self->send(self->bus, true, &self->write_ram_command, 1);
 }
 
-void displayio_display_finish_region_update(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
-    self->end_transaction(self->bus);
-}
-
 bool displayio_display_frame_queued(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
     // Refresh at ~30 fps.
     return (ticks_ms - self->last_refresh) > 32;
@@ -234,9 +241,8 @@ void displayio_display_finish_refresh(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
     self->last_refresh = ticks_ms;
 }
 
-bool displayio_display_send_pixels(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint32_t* pixels, uint32_t length) {
+void displayio_display_send_pixels(displayio_display_obj_t* self, uint32_t* pixels, uint32_t length) {
     self->send(self->bus, false, (uint8_t*) pixels, length * 4);
-    return true;
 }
 
 void displayio_display_update_backlight(displayio_display_obj_t* self) {
diff --git a/shared-module/displayio/__init__.c b/shared-module/displayio/__init__.c
index 79014fb5af..546a46b1eb 100644
--- a/shared-module/displayio/__init__.c
+++ b/shared-module/displayio/__init__.c
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ static inline void swap(uint16_t* a, uint16_t* b) {
     *b = temp;
 }
 
-bool refreshing_displays = false;
+// Check for recursive calls to displayio_refresh_displays.
+bool refresh_displays_in_progress = false;
 
 void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
     if (mp_hal_is_interrupted()) {
@@ -35,20 +36,25 @@ void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
         return;
     }
 
-    if (refreshing_displays) {
+    if (refresh_displays_in_progress) {
+        // Don't allow recursive calls to this routine.
         return;
     }
-    refreshing_displays = true;
+
+    refresh_displays_in_progress = true;
+
     for (uint8_t i = 0; i < CIRCUITPY_DISPLAY_LIMIT; i++) {
         if (displays[i].display.base.type == NULL || displays[i].display.base.type == &mp_type_NoneType) {
+            // Skip null display.
             continue;
         }
         displayio_display_obj_t* display = &displays[i].display;
         displayio_display_update_backlight(display);
 
+        // Time to refresh at specified frame rate?
         if (!displayio_display_frame_queued(display)) {
-            refreshing_displays = false;
-            return;
+            // Too soon. Try next display.
+            continue;
         }
         if (displayio_display_refresh_queued(display)) {
             // We compute the pixels. r and c are row and column to match the display memory
@@ -60,7 +66,13 @@ void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
             if (display->transpose_xy) {
                 swap(&c1, &r1);
             }
-            displayio_display_start_region_update(display, c0, r0, c1, r1);
+
+            if (!displayio_display_begin_transaction(display)) {
+                // Can't acquire display bus; skip updating this display. Try next display.
+                continue;
+            }
+            displayio_display_set_region_to_update(display, c0, r0, c1, r1);
+            displayio_display_end_transaction(display);
 
             uint16_t x0 = 0;
             uint16_t x1 = display->width - 1;
@@ -94,6 +106,8 @@ void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
             size_t index = 0;
             uint16_t buffer_size = 256;
             uint32_t buffer[buffer_size / 2];
+            bool skip_this_display = false;
+
             for (uint16_t y = starty; y0 <= y && y <= y1; y += dy) {
                 for (uint16_t x = startx; x0 <= x && x <= x1; x += dx) {
                     uint16_t* pixel = &(((uint16_t*)buffer)[index]);
@@ -110,11 +124,14 @@ void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
                     index += 1;
                     // The buffer is full, send it.
                     if (index >= buffer_size) {
-                        if (!displayio_display_send_pixels(display, buffer, buffer_size / 2) || reload_requested) {
-                            displayio_display_finish_region_update(display);
-                            refreshing_displays = false;
-                            return;
+                        if (!displayio_display_begin_transaction(display)) {
+                            // Can't acquire display bus; skip the rest of the data. Try next display.
+                            index = 0;
+                            skip_this_display = true;
+                            break;
                         }
+                        displayio_display_send_pixels(display, buffer, buffer_size / 2);
+                        displayio_display_end_transaction(display);
                         // TODO(tannewt): Make refresh displays faster so we don't starve other
                         // background tasks.
                         usb_background();
@@ -122,17 +139,26 @@ void displayio_refresh_displays(void) {
                     }
                 }
             }
-            // Send the remaining data.
-            if (index && !displayio_display_send_pixels(display, buffer, index * 2)) {
-                displayio_display_finish_region_update(display);
-                refreshing_displays = false;
-                return;
+
+            if (skip_this_display) {
+                // Go on to next display.
+                continue;
             }
-            displayio_display_finish_region_update(display);
+            // Send the remaining data.
+            if (index) {
+                if (!displayio_display_begin_transaction(display)) {
+                    // Can't get display bus. Skip the rest of the data. Try next display.
+                    continue;
+                }
+                displayio_display_send_pixels(display, buffer, index * 2);
+            }
+            displayio_display_end_transaction(display);
         }
         displayio_display_finish_refresh(display);
     }
-    refreshing_displays = false;
+
+    // All done.
+    refresh_displays_in_progress = false;
 }
 
 void common_hal_displayio_release_displays(void) {