Reflections of Flight

flight reminds me

not to trust my eyes

not to allow myself the luxury of thinking

the sun-touched backside of clouds could

support the weight of my steps

much less my dreams

(or maybe they are made of the same materials -

concentrated wisps of evaporated matter coalescing out of reach)

head rested against a thrumming hull

millions of rotations keep me

aloft

served discount coffee with a smile

topping glaciers (one cream, no sugar)

the Pacific

ecosystems just large enough

to register as meaningful

up here, scale is measured

geologically

the single headlamp of a motorcycle moves down the highway

like a cell moving through the veins of the province

a blink to disappear

(maybe it was the cellphone light reflection from the fellow traveler sitting next to me, hurtling through space, matching multicolored gems in an attempt to swipe away the boredom)

meaning is expressed in eons

Did you know the first monkey shot into space

suffocated before launch?

I worry I will suffocate

thinking about the lives passing below me

whole lives in lite-bright configuration

less than < more than

the outpouring of mountain water

boulders

vomited from their resting place

to speckle the shoreline of

alpine lake

The city approaches

the thrum cycles down

this descent

back into

scale