Air, a runway
Melissa Hotchkiss

posted Jun 8, 2010

Unlikely to return soon
She steps up, into the small plane

An elderly man in the first row
On the left, reminds her of a grandfather

Not hers, only someone's
Relative, the hour early (6:20 AM)

No recollection of something recent
Her entire body, an afterthought

Or possibly a film still
Film still, perfectly stressed

Returned as a fish from water
Air, a runway

She sits in the assigned seat
He looks like a grandfather

In a white shirt, his tone
Stands out as dark, lovely

Melissa Hotchkiss is the author of Storm Damage. Her poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous publications, including The American Poetry Review, Free Inquiry, LIT, Upstairs at Duroc, the New Virginia Review and the anthology Poets for Palestine. She is one of the editors of Barrow Street Press and lives in New York City's East Village with her dog, Jesse. For more about her and her work, see her website.

We’ve published three more poems by Hotchkiss: “Charade,” “Always asked politely if she could a) hold his hand, or b) kiss him,” and “The evening a man.”