Poem, 8/28

[to be read aloud whitman style] Flight 2033

first lynn, then winthrop

and hull, little harbors,

clusters of white boatlets and green trees like shrublets,

the entire north shore against the vast blue,

bank right, i knew we’d see ptown,

but not the entire arm of the cape and the south shore,

how it all connects, how simple it looks up here.

this is why i like travel, and why i love to fly:

it simplifies and minimizes, brings everything

into big perspective.

it’s a beautiful day to be up here,

warm on the ground, little clouds and little lakes,

and look, there’s providence, tiny tf green,

a cluster of small buildings among so much water,

and island of a town among the green.

i like flying because sometimes i like getting there faster,

knowing there’s a simpler way, knowing we’re already

above hartford and i can see clear through to long island

and the smaller islands around it, shelter island, and beyond.

this is new england: some farms, some water, clustered towns,

and so much green and so much blue.

perspective brings everything together and clarifies.

connects that which seems disparate, a different state or highway,

a different way of realizing everything’s connected.