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Friday, May 16, 2025

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE

by Julie Standig


art by Steve Brodner at Instagram


Oh no, you’re not 

not even boarding

not even close

six-hour layover now delayed

they need to clean the plane

are you kidding me?

 

only ninety minutes more

but we’re the lucky ones

because we will board shortly

United 8839 from Frankfurt

to Newark International—

buckle up sweetheart

 

more delays—the runway is backed up 

but good news—the mechanical problem

has been resolved

what mechanical problem?

yes, I will have a glass of wine

 

the guy next to me hasn’t stopped

blowing his nose and is now

stuffing his used tissues 

into the back of the seat in front of us

for the entire seven hours 

I hate my seat, I hate him

the future is Covid

 

and the movies suck too

but we made it—Newark Airport!

what this? We didn’t get Global Entry?

get on line with hundreds of people

and only two stations open

as more planes expel more people

Hot      Crowded         No toilets

suddenly one old lady is down

flat out in front of me

 

no airport help around 

not right away 

and when they do

they don’t know what to do

ah, good news—finally 

they turned on the AC

 

what now? we just heard

the mechanical problem 

was right here in Newark—

air traffic control

no communication

understaffed—walk outs—

trouble—trouble in the skies

 

ah, the good news—our flight 

did not run out of gas

because that did happen

but not at Newark

 

I should have titled this poem

Fly Me to the Moon



Julie Standig, author of The Forsaken Little Black Book, nominated for an Eric Hoffer Award and chapbook, Memsahib Memoirs. Her poems appeared in Schuylkill Valley Journal, Gyroscope Review, The New Verse News, One Art and elsewhere. A lifetime New Yorker, she now resides in Bucks County.