I keep finding myself
obsessed with how airplanes
fly
We work beside the
Airport and we hear them all the time
as I stand
smoking outside they come
roaring overhead
I keep expecting one to hit our building.
Whenever I'm outside I watch them carefully,
I try to put myself inside and see myself from the air
this tiny guy squinting up into the sun-
each time they pass I keep wondering if this will be the one that crashes.
I can't get the thought from my mind that it'll happen
they begin the ascent into the sky - I imagine I see smoke from the tail
I see the fire in the engines
something is falling from the wing.
I'd feel much better if I'd never heard of those crashes
Lockerbie, The Concorde, Flight 800...
...when I put my tray in an upright position
and fasten my seat belt.