Louisville Turnaround
_______-for Ann Benton
After deleting emails –
4,000 of them
from a year I never want to remember,
I strip down,
fill the tub,
and open William Stafford.
An old boarding pass falls into the water.
One can learn a lot from a boarding pass:
It was May 25th.
I was traveling to Atlanta,
then on to a place I don’t want to remember.
I worked for the airlines.
I flew often.
I’ve never been in Atlanta,
only through Atlanta,
then in a rental car with a girlfriend
to another state,
then to a hotel to wait outside a door.
Working the ticket counter and being a poet
are similar:
We can size you up.
We can flag you if you seem suspicious –
one way, no bags, sweating profusely,
returning too often to the bathroom.
We can look into your soul
and feel you, seat 23C.
We know the difference between
naked: when you have no clothes on
and nekked: when you have no clothes on,
and you’re up to something.
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