Saline drip three thousand feet up, held
by a trembling flight attendant blinking
sunrise from his eyes. First plane from Chicago,
your feverish farewell burned
against my derelict arms. I should have bartered
my lungs for a ticket, made my lap
your pillow, cradled you through the descent.
Instead I let go. You’re farmland now,
yawning plains and fading strip malls, your airport
no longer my own. Me, I collapsed into a carry-on city
compressed by a desire so droughted it can’t remember
rain. Overhead, the planes roar. I look for you in every jet stream.
by a trembling flight attendant blinking
sunrise from his eyes. First plane from Chicago,
your feverish farewell burned
against my derelict arms. I should have bartered
my lungs for a ticket, made my lap
your pillow, cradled you through the descent.
Instead I let go. You’re farmland now,
yawning plains and fading strip malls, your airport
no longer my own. Me, I collapsed into a carry-on city
compressed by a desire so droughted it can’t remember
rain. Overhead, the planes roar. I look for you in every jet stream.
