take off

we're in the air
and my stomache is only slightly behind me
the roar of the engines washes over me
my ears have not yet popped

i stare out of the window
at the world falling away
and i think of how little people are
and how big they are

each one containing a universe
a god, fully-fledged and all-powerful
and here i am, transporting mine
all the way to the new world

through the clouds and beyond the horizon
we are now thirty thousand feet away from the human condition
although not far enough to escape entirely
a tension oozes out so i push my seat back

the screams of infants and the farts and sneezes and snores
are all muffled in the lowered pressure
bad smells are softened and it doesn't matter what the food tastes like
we are all equal here, prisoners of fate

the next port is inconceivably far away
and i wonder what i will do when i get there
who i will be, and how i will convince myself and others
that i'm still me

my cultural backpack weighs way more than my luggage.