Ever since I began to journal daily and write more frequently, I started enjoying plane rides more because I discovered their opportunity for self reflection and creation. I realized I could use this idle time to simply observe and write. And thus was born this idea to write a series of “airplane” poems - that is, poems that I write on plane rides thousands of feet above land, floating in the sky. For this particular poem, I was sitting by the window seat - something that rarely happens because I do not typically enjoy the window seat - so I decided to embrace it instead of pouting.
I look to my right:
blankets of snow -
oh no, wait,
they’re Clouds
Puffs of white smoke
Cotton candy
My belly drops as we float
up
I imagine a rollercoaster & suddenly
the stress
Fades
Like the clouds themselves
I am struck.
My eyes swell as my heart fills.
From below, they appear as streaks of white in a
blue sky
From above, they are like mountains of fluff
From within, they are haze
Hazy like my thoughts.
Opaque, transparent, fading
Blotches, streaks, undulations
I am struck.
***
The sea looks like a painting
greasy oil leaves undulating marks on the canvas.
Textures
Light reflecting off the grooves.
The sky melds into the sea
I don’t know which is which except
for the peach colored sun
It’s abstract - shades & straight lines
I’m confused
and awed.
I want to jump
Can I?
I just want to be surrounded by nature - no, engulfed by it.
The vastness, the silence, the purity.
It doesn’t scare me anymore.
Can I?
Splash
***
Soon we cross over land
So dull, so grey
So dirty
Take me back.
Where is nature; where did she go?
I look down again.
It's a miniature model:
monopoly houses; dry, brittle trees
cars that look like ants
Millions of them
There are so many
Concrete
Tar
Gravel
Brick
The occasional bush
But really where is she?
Being in the sky is like being in between.
The threshold between two worlds.
The two touch but do not meet.
Splash
I think
I close my eyes
and drift away.