VERY FAST THEN UP
I will never understand how
100 or 200 people can sit on an airplane hurtling down
a runway at 170 miles an hour reading a newspaper.
Not one of them seems concerned or interested
that we’re jamming at high speed and about
to lift off into the air.
Turn on a television set to a bunch of guys running
around fighting over a football and they are
at the height of attention, completely engrossed.
I always take a window seat
but, during lift-off I like to stare straight ahead
allowing my peripheral vision to sense the outside
as I watch and feel the fuselage vibrating, the
wheels bounding and digging the rubber in.
At first, I thought maybe my fellow passengers
were playing nonchalant with their newspapers
endeavoring to disguise their nerves.
This doesn’t appear to be the case
They genuinely find their newspapers more interesting
than
the fact that a mere 80 years ago and for thousands of
years before that, this flying thing would have
been a miracle.
And in fact, is a miracle, really.
Mark Weber | 25aug11
How true, yet most experiences these days are, ie reading your poem online.
Cool. True. Funny.
Ain’t it the truth!!
HM