A new poem by Nicholas Wright.

Flights

During the safety briefing I read the poem
‘He who finds a horseshoe’. Babies and the young
are crying everywhere. Someone across the aisle
is reading a novel; the first chapter is called Me.
Jodie is next. I imagine losing the volume
I have secured in the seat-back in front of me
and having to email the Terminal Lost and Found
or calling a helpline to explain everything
yes explain, God, to who knows who. For example:
Yes, a Russian; No, Polish, a Jew; yes, a goldfinch.
Imagine, you know, having to spell everything out.
To be clear: it was never mine to lose.
I imagine it sailing on through the noise of time
unread in that raging treeless air like a missile
no longer known to home, absurd, unbridled and bound.

The Friday Poem is edited by Chris Tse. Submissions are now being accepted until 30 September 2023. Please send no more than three poems in a Word document to chris@christse.co.nz.