Plane

I’m sitting down.
It’s not too comfortable, but not too bad
Little bit cold, but when isn’t it?
And instead of watching a movie
Or some kind of entertainment
I’m listening, carefully, to the hum of the engine
And feeling the vibrations in my feet

A few rows ahead is a teenage boy
Looking through rows of his own
Of blue and white message bubbles
And having the largest grin
The climax of an action movie is in front of him
But the attention is on a few characters
From a paramour from beyond

Lights dance on the ceiling
Reflections from the sun outside on someone’s phone
Or laptop
Or something
But they dance to the rhythm of the ups and downs
Up, down

Next to me is a man
Salt pepper beard and business laptop
Can’t be older than 60
Scratching his head
And filling out a life insurance form
Looking up every once in a while
To look at the flight map

100 silent humans
Nearly motionless, suspended
In a metal cage
Off to San Francisco
From wherever
Headphones in, listening to something

And I am one of them
Just without headphones
Listening to the silence
And feeling the air flow
In and out of my nostrils
The tiny details
You forget about
In the big ideas and big plans

In the back is a couple
They were talking at first
But now they’re sleeping on each other’s shoulder
And I vaguely sense she’s pretending
Given her smile as she drifts
Through the stories of dreams

My toes are cold
The hair on my legs brush my pants
Near my ankles
My glasses rest on my nose
And two ears
A sensation I’ve gotten used to over the years
But just now notice

My mind wanders a little
Back to my voyage
Across the world from
An event full of sound baths
And consciousness experimenters
Of course, I think with a smug smirk
Mediation sure is some baloney
As my mind seeps back to the present
And empties, except for the sensations
Of glasses
And leg hair
And cold toes
And nostril air
And dancing lights
And vibrating engines
Meaningless sensations
That are all I have

But unfortunately, I’m taken away
Back to the future, by a rude announcement
“Buckle your seatbelts, everyone
We’re about to land.”