Flight Delay

This month was renamed in 8 BCE in honour of Augustus Caesar, because it was the time of several of his greatest triumphs. Gladiolus or poppy are the birth flowers, meaning strength of character, beauty, love, and family. And how often we get stuck in an airport, on our way to meet family. We call/text to say how late we’re going to be as we wait … wait … and wait  …

FLIGHT DELAY

ponytail   bald   hands in pockets
they saunter   run
drag luggage  backpack                       
coat-slung weary

on fog-white window
their reflections pass
like unclaimed baggage
endlessly going nowhere

I wait for one plane
not to Toronto   Seattle
Fort McMurray   Winnipeg
but over the mountain
to Victoria
five hours late

I eat nuts
drink water   read
pace the clock
into flight

A

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‘A Bedroom of Searchlights’: poetry. This collection draws a picture of the poet’s divorced mother, an artist with two children, who struggled with poverty, war, and the realities of daily life, yet still found beauty and comfort in her garden, and her art.
From Inanna Publications, May 2016.