Or Without
Jessica Tyson
Man must rise above the Earth—to the top of the atmosphere and beyond—for only thus will
he fully understand the world in which he lives —Socrates
Toward each
neon-rimmed runway
go tidy lines of people
into the day's haze,
the whine of plastic
suitcase wheels
ticking grid-tile
floor in time
with announcements
that flights to Tokyo & Akron
will depart with
or without the missing.
Row after row
of linked plastic
chairs remind us...
Outside, ground crews
scatter about the tarmac,
which isn't tarmacadam,
but merely cement,
while miles above
these pacing planes
the foil-bundled
Hubble goes
looking for galaxies.
Though our Milky Way
appears smack-center,
every other dartling glimmer
might be its own
midpoint, too:
we dwell only
in periphery.
A stressed octopus
will gnaw its own tentacles.
A woman watches
take-offs
out the window,
tearing her newspaper
into feathery strips.
Jessica Tyson’s poetry has been published in a few literary journals, including Redivider, Rip-Rap, Apeiron Review, Crab Creek Review, and The Acorn Review. Jessica graduated with an MFA from the University of Washington at Seattle, and also completed the undergraduate creative writing program at California State University at Long Beach. She currently works as a real estate operations and marketing manager in San Diego, California; her freelance writing appears on numerous blogs and articles across the internet, often under someone else's name. She was also lucky enough to have been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize.