Ode to The Airport

A sappy poem

This is for the baddies in Buccee’s booty shorts

The mommys who are clearly breastfeeding but won’t be damned to wear a bra

Thank y’all for your service.

This is for the lady of a couple -she was pushing two carry ons -and the man of the couple who was feeding her ice cream at a two-bites-to-his-one rate

For every little kid who asks technical questions about the airplanes and/or runs full tilt after the luggage go-kart and/or lays down on the ground when they’ve had enough

I feel you kid. This sh—I mean stuff’s exhausting

And exhilarating!

What a magical place. Where lives and languages and loves and lands meet

No not meet - converge

Co-wiggle-intertwining the red lines of our existence

Explaining that every experience that’s singular to you is also singular to you and you and you…

This is for the folks who ask you to zip their pack when you alert them it’s half open

The dads traveling with their toddler daughters

The dads traveling with their twins in a double stroller

The dads traveling with their pregnant wives and a baby and pushing two suit cases and carrying a cross body baby bag so the wife can walk hands free

This is for The Head Nod

This is for the beautiful woman I saw twice in the city and then again in the airport but couldn’t quite stop to finally speak. I hope we meet again soon

(Y’all I’m literally crying as I write this because a thousand years ago would our ancestors have imagined concrete hubs across the globe that act as temporary tiny homes to folks who ALL roll their eyes when their bag is flagged by TSA even if they speak seven different languages. What Magic.)

This is for the pilots who tell kids they can learn to fly as long as they get their license first

For the folks who fix their face when they catch your eye- yeah they were scowling because they can’t find their gate, but they’re definitely definitely not scowling at you

This is for the redhead couple with matching vans and prismacolor tattoos who were somehow both simultaneously hot and super cool and also for the other redhead across the train who was scowling at them, presumably because the two women were doppelgängers

Seriously I had to double take

This is for the Southern Bells who fly in heels and big hair

For vacation braids and butterfly locs

For the mom-updo with those sweaty strands that tendril by her ears (I know you’re exhausted, mama, but you look hot!)

This is for the friend you haven’t seen in years, you had had no idea would see who happens to be rushing past you

For the tears of being reunited and being separated and being reunited again

This is for the humans the humans the humans the pups

And the occasional bird - there’s always one- who reminds us that on Earth creation has always, always included the sky.