AIRPLANE TIME
Airplane time is different.
Each minute has at least 70 seconds.
Every hour has about 100 minutes.
And while time gets longer,
space gets shorter.
Each foot has just 10 inches.
Other things on airplanes also are transformed.
Food you would throw out at home becomes edible,
even makes you ask for seconds.
You watch the worst movie in the world.
Gratefully.
Where at home, you get annoyed
if the toilet seat is left up,
in the plane you are thrilled if it isn’t left soaked.
I watch with envy those travelers
who settle in with a good book and calmly
turn pages all the way from New York to Seattle.
My mind goes on stall
the minute my behind hits the seat.
Incapable of anything more challenging
than reading the headlines of the newspaper
the man in front of me is reading.
I eat.
I futilely attempt to sleep.
I squirm.
I crank.
I let an hour pass.
Which of course in airplane time is all of ten minutes.
“Mommy, are we almost there yet?”