On the Way to Phoenix

On
the
Way
to
Phoenix

---

first

I consider: to
walk to Phoenix might show me
what I miss by plane
---barbsdad
---

not
me

the jet hums, the air
hums; people's voices drone---my
seatmate's too; I don't

---

uh-
oh

premeal insulin's
not enough: sugar's too high;
I inject ... again

---

hot
hot
hot

unaccountably,
the A320 jostles me,
spills my hot green tea ...

from its Styrofoam
cup which I've placed on the floor
to spill what it wants

---

Salman
Rushdie's
East,
West

cotton sky below
gleams white, opaque, cocoonish;
I read Rushdie's book

---

somewhere
over
New
Mexico
I
notice ...

a small private craft
passes too close; I trust my
pilot is awake

---

nearing
touchdown,
this
survivor's
report:

somehow ...

I survive muscle
cramps, a charley horse, pretzel
positions; what's next?

About This Poem

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

Comments

sha_onarainyday

16 years 11 months ago

very nice. I really enjoyed

very nice. I really enjoyed the format. I love true to life, human experience tidbits like this. i don't much enjoy airplanes, but it must be more difficult. PS it is a beautiful drive through arizona, if you can stand miles and miles of beautiful nothing. -sha

barbsdad2003

16 years 11 months ago

Hey there, thanx ...

Sha. Here to visit my daughter. Have now seen my first in-the-flesh saguaro cacti. Next mission, I suppose, is to actually get out of the car Barb's driving and stand next to one of 'em. I suppose it's OK s'long's I don't trip and fall into it. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to find out either way. The starkness here has a kind of abstract beauty to it. Although my first reaction is to indulge in a deep, deep depression---of the kind from which I'll likely never make even a partial recovery. So if I end up in a mental hospital somewhere hereabouts, I can only hope they'll give me access to a computer ... and to neopoet. I can really truly see why my daughter might miss the Pacific Northwest ... Not that there's much difference, mind you. Yours, Chuck

sha_onarainyday

16 years 11 months ago

I have a fondness for the

I have a fondness for the desert and the mountains. When I was a kid living in Nevada I had a pet cactus, it was tiny, and I couldn't touch it, but I loved it just the same. The saguaro are pretty beautiful. When in the desert, one must find his own oasis or risk the perpetual thirst. “They cannot scare me with their empty spaces between stars -- on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home to scare myself with my own desert places.”-Robert Frost

bjp

16 years 11 months ago

Dear Chuck,

You are a wordsmith of the true brief. No oversized loopings of the L. No meanderings into streets still under construction. I wanted to add how much I like your comments: bold by dignified, protective but generous, worried at times but curious to find out. You man a fort with a good discretion. I have wanted to say that for a while. Brian

Fleur MacDonald

16 years 11 months ago

A nice change,

and a lovely read and love the layout. Excellent, don't stop!! thankyou :)fleur

weirdelf

16 years 11 months ago

Hey Brian! That's pretty much what I wanted to say!

Hey Chuck, haven't visited for a while. 2009 has been mostly unkind to me. Looking forward to catching up. Having been reading your work since I first joined Neopoet I can't help but see each poem in some sort of context and it is intrigueing (sic? looks wrong) and delightful to me seeing the changes, diversions and consistently elegant wordcrafting, cheers, Jess Forever unwrapping the eternal present.

Janice Pearce

16 years 11 months ago

On the Way to Phoenix

Chuck Can't wait to read your next adventure! ______________________________________________________ Income-tax forms should be more realistic by allowing the taxpayer to list "Uncle Sam" as a dependent Anonymous