Entering an airplane,
For me,
Is like entering a church,
This sacred place where we sit in pews,
Eyes glued to the incredible,
Action up front,
Yet the view from the window,
As beautiful as the stained glass of the church back home,
Pulls longingly at my attention,
But unlike church,
I truly feel renewed,
When we land and I exit,
The beautiful, sacred plane.

I'm not sure why exactly that,
I thought things would end different for us,
You with your silver wings,
And me, here on the ground.
But that's exactly what I thought:
"Things will be different for us,"
God, how could I be such a fool?

Forever neglected
Forever dismayed
Forever deafened
By the cacophony of the trade

The antiquated digger stands by
A sentient guard of the worker
It watches as the tree slowly dissipates
Its life slowly crumbling
As the voracious chipper
Devours the tree whole

The worker stands by
The digger stands by
The chipper chips away

The taciturn worker remains
Ruminating the existence of the world.
Why was he put here?
For what reason must he stay with these hallowed construction tools?
Do they feel any remorse for the change that they've enacted
On the world around them?
Are they aware that they transgress the laws of nature?

The bellicose chipper
Wages war with nature
As the people watch so distantly.
Its sound makes the neighbors quite belligerent
Yet the zealots watch attentively.
The pure ignorance
The pure neglect
The blatant apathy
Is something to be seen.

Whatever could possess you
To follow in the footsteps of the worker
To feel his pain as the trimmer
Chips away at the trees' centuries
The sound of shattered glass
Punctuates the air.
Perhaps there has been an accident.

Twizzlers
Clenched in a man's hand
Is it a sign of nervousness?

The gooey red dye 40
Oozes into his hands
Was it just being nice?

Never being eaten
Never being enjoyed
Only being clenched
Melted
Destroyed

The twizzlers match his red shoes
Is it a fashion statement?
Or is it just to please the giver?

The twizzlers could be a sign
Why is he suffocating them?
Is it an omen?
Or merely a coincidence

Dearest,
I realized that the most happiness we can experience in this world will not be found solely in another person, but within the places we allow ourselves to go.

If you ever get the chance to fly after the sun sets, take it.
Take it and look up as far as you can, before your nose touches the cold glass window.
The cities and suburbs below will try to compete,
But the sky always comes out on top.

I swear I've never seen so many stars.

Kissing the ground home
Writing haikus in the air
Long plane rides are done.

This is a memory of the time I first stepped into a plane,
When I took a seat by the window next to the 80-year old man
And as the world got smaller and bigger the only thing that kept me sane
Was that I was a lonesome traveler without a plan.
And all the while my insides churned and the cocktail washed the bile,
The man came out of the cockpit to tell us we’d almost land
In Cairo airport, and I could feel the stream of the Nile
In my lungs, and the smell of the mango in my taste glands,
I twisted in my seat to have a better look
At the sad earth I’d soon call my own,
But my lips deceived and my head shook
For Egypt’s glory furiously shone.
                                                         *p.t.

I'm here and you're there.

-a five words ******* tragedy (the plane ticket you gave me is sitting on my mantle and i stare at it through the 2am tears)