Flight Safety Instructions
Michael Meyerhofer

In the event of a water landing,
this poem will not save you.
That's because words cannot be used
as flotation devices any more
than they can replace good
old-fashioned adult supervision
during a rousing game of lawn darts.
Also, be advised that talking
like this means we’ve broken down
the fourth wall though such walls
are only made of air anyway,
meaning that under just the right
conditions they like anything can be
squeezed down into a star.
It could be that I’ve failed to grasp
the intricacies of nuclear fusion
but there's still this poem
on your end and this laminated
placard on mine, vibrating in its sheath
sewn to the ass-end of somebody
else’s chair, and as the plane
banks between mountains
hemmed in by vast deep lakes,
I take it out and study the family
depicted as white and unafraid,
merely embracing their knees
like saints lost in prayer.

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