One Another

you see,
i don’t fly as often as i watch movies
where there’s a bomb on the plane
or maybe just a gunshot
but either way, the cabin de-pressurizes
the masks fall
noh to the floor
business man - older woman - flight attendant
sucked out
wrinkles become taught
instilled with will
but the protagonists and antagonists all survive

sitting here, i know we are neither
we are extras, but before that seeps
i realize that there is probably a brief close-up of us
as we shoot out the hole

but the camera will forget us
before we are ripped by the still air
as our relative stillness in the plane meets
our relative stillness in the atmosphere

and i would like to think
that even with our hands going numb
struggling to keep our eyes open as we approach terminal velocity
we spot one another
and within a mile of decent,
we latch on to one another
and hang on for the last couple of miles

i think i would say something
about how i feel like we’re laying on the couch right now.
and you whisper that you could use a little more blankey

i reach up and twist the dry air off
your head slips forward off my shoulder again
i go through the scenario again

now it is clear to me that the chances of finding each other
miles up
in the frozen air
are slim
and that it might seem strange to tell you later
that i’m sorry you had to spend those last minutes
alone
and falling cold.