Airports

There’s something “counter” about airports –

Those bustling crowded places where strangers 

Are momentarily bonded together by a common

Goal – to get away from the present and get on

With the lives they are going into, something new

Or back to, happily or reluctantly. This is what

Transitory means, a fleeting moment we all get to

Pass through on our way to something we hoped

For when we bought that ticket, that boarding

Pass that feels so momentary folded up in our

Pockets waiting to help us escape the lines we

Become part of here in a place remembered only

By its abbreviated name – LHR, PHL, and BTV.

                   Souvenirs

Souvenirs are as hard to predict

As they are to explain afterwards.

Friends ask, and you barely remember

The why and therefore of the decision.

They were there just at the right moment

And you fell under their spell and ended

Up at the cashier with your selection in

Hand. Watching them get wrapped up

Or rung up were as close to hypnotic as

Anything you have experienced. This is

How they sell their place. This is how we

Buy our latest trip and bring it home with

Us to put on display and try to explain

What motivated you to buy yet another

Pen or another turtle figure.

                Today’s Poem

It’s out there bouncing on the waves

Starboard side this time.

Yesterday’s was short and abrupt

Quickly taken in, quickly dismissed.

But today’s has a different look –

Ready to engage, ready to enlighten.

Yesterday I was embarrassed to bring

It to everyone’s attention – pointing,

Pretending promising it would be worth

Their efforts at understanding.

Of course yesterday was yesterday

We don’t need to remember.

Today will be something new, something

Worth mentioning in the future

And then I’ll be able to say – I brought all

This to everyone’s attention

And they are better for it.