}} Flight Poem: Bhubaneswar to Bangalore |

Poetry at Sangam

SangamHouse

 










Flight Poem: Bhubaneswar to Bangalore

I’m plumeless Indian bird      seated on a plane     from one capital to
another     up in the air beginnings & endings matter a little less
I attempt a poem      coz I want to really fly     it’s the aisle seat
its lateral leg space     my mental buoyancy    the air hostess eyeballs me
writing during takeoff     her eyebrows prance     like two approaching
caterpillars     their climaxing romance tweezed out in the center
they catch my gaze      I think they wink at me – is that how you take off?

I’m so attracted to cameos tonight           wanting to play lead takes its toll
you see stripping the world of attention requires one to be naked himself
the man who held the sky but couldn’t hold himself when he was done
how do you ace this thing called balance    a lot of pursuits feel like
knifing onions     my eyes consistently turn into hot springs    now I turn
my attention to the oblong of blue     the window seat’s sky flawless blue
like Lord Krishna’s skin    my blemishes prickly    my pimples lovelorn
listen I’ve seen tourists find love    in the quarries I mined for a little warmth
shards of metal littered my feet     insignia disappeared into blood

here come sobs from the back     here’s one more baby in a brave new
world    turns out it’s a grown man in misery    turns out sobs don’t age
galactic lights twinkle     the plane meditates in the growling air
a museum of human stories    faces become artifacts       my ears rattle
from the altitude drop    I spit out a couple of words    spilled from
my mind’s throat    they land on my adjacent passenger’s brow    very
much like this plane on the strip   important & incoherent    hi there
do you see me    do you see me through this haze   I’ve now arrived

 
 
 
← Satya Dash