Airborn

Seated under the wing,
staring at the propeller.
Slow. Down.
Now you see them.
Speed. Up.
Now you don't.
Everything is going to be just fine
where nothing stands still
as long as time and one half
finished thought
quickly displaces the next.
Take-off. Landing. Next.

And here you see
Air Bridge Monument
to a fetal City that
the Soviet tried to strangle
on the Autobahn in 1948
Where parachutes of bonbons fell
to still unborn children of the war.
DC-3 raisin bombs pumped every 3 minutes.

Explode or collapse.
No one need suffocate
as long as her umbilical cord is not wrapped around her neck
and she is securely connected to the rest of the west.
If the air pressure in the cabin drops
an oxygen mask will be lowered.
Extinguish all cigarettes and
pull the mask over your face.
Breath normally.
Everything is OK.
Next stop Tempelhof.
.
Allied troops are dropping
lozenges down our slopes.
Everything will be OK
in the chalet.
Landing on the run
way. Breath out.

Sue Anne Moody, Berlin 1993