Aloft between heaven and them,
I babble the landscape—what staunch, vicious trees,
what cluttered roads, slow cars. This is my
country as it was gifted me—victimless, vast.
The soundtrack buzzing the air around my ears
continually loops ditties of eagles and oil.
I can’t choose. Every moment I’m awake,
aroused instrumentals channel theme songs,
what I cannot.
I don’t ever have to come down.
I can stay hooked to heaven,
dictating this blandness.
My flyboys memorize flip and soar.
They’ll never swoop real enough
to resurrect that other country,
won’t ever get close enough to give name
to tonight’s dreams darkening the water.
I understand that somewhere it has rained.
Patricia Smith, “The President Flies Over” from Blood Dazzler. Copyright © 2008 by Patricia Smith. Reprinted by permission of Coffee House Press. www.coffeehousepress.org
Source: Blood Dazzler
(Coffee House Press, 2008)