Night Flight

First published in Frogpond 26:3, Fall 2003, page 43. Written 18 April 2000 while flying from St. Louis, Missouri to San Francisco, California. See also “Away.”

 

 

full moon—

along the runway

blue lights begin to blur

 

        turning after takeoff

        the moon disappears under the wing

 

for a moment below

in the Mississippi,

a white oval

 

the seat-belt sign

blinks back on with a beep—

the moon lost in clouds

 

        in-flight magazine:

        a four-letter word for lunar

 

movie over,

    the moon lightens

the snow-capped mountains