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    Parker Owens
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  • 97 Words
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Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 

Occasional Poetry - 71. Reflections on Airline Travel

I admit this is a rant. Errors made in the heat of annoyance can be excused.

Anger
and frustration
at delay on delay
builds like awesome thunderheads in
August;
no doubt
we look placid at a distance,
but roil and seethe inside
with destructive
lightning.

 


Perhaps
we will take off,
or maybe sit some more
on pavement's purgatory, the
runway;
condemned
to hear the cries of innocents,
worries of the anxious,
and sounds of teeth
grinding.

 


My flight
was cancelled early,
and rebooked for evening,
took off late to miss connections
past dark;
airport
floors have no charm for the weary,
nor do apologies
get me to your
bedside.

Thank you for reading this, and for allowing me to vent. If you need to let off some steam, too, you can do it here.
Copyright © 2017 Parker Owens; All Rights Reserved.
  • Like 10
Poetry posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you. 
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8 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

Oh, yes. You can tell I was a little fried. But airline management did not seem to enjoy my poetry, oddly enough.

You had me chuckling at this. :gikkle: You captured the frustration of dealing with travel delays perfectly.  There's so much to like in these poetic rantings, but "pavement's purgatory" really stood out to me.  As someone who hates flying, being stuck on the tarmac while waiting hours to take off is a special kind of hell.  I'm sorry you had to deal with all this. :hug: 

  • Like 3
29 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

I think we've all been in horrible airplane delays; you capture that sense of powerless and frustration to a T. Hugs, buddy 

 

The sense of powerlessness and anxiety was quite overpowering until I pulled out my little poetry notebook and started writing. Funny how just penning these words spread a little oil on my troubled waters. So was the power of the pen demonstrated. But still, given the state of mind of the other passengers, perhaps it's just as well nobody had a sword. Many thanks for reading this!

  • Like 2
24 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

You had me chuckling at this. :gikkle: You captured the frustration of dealing with travel delays perfectly.  There's so much to like in these poetic rantings, but "pavement's purgatory" really stood out to me.  As someone who hates flying, being stuck on the tarmac while waiting hours to take off is a special kind of hell.  I'm sorry you had to deal with all this. :hug: 

 

I have the feeling that Dante would have enjoyed updating the Inferno in our modern era. Or maybe he would have simply added more layers of hell to include hub airports. Thanks very much for reading these and for your lovely response. 

  • Like 3

Your heartfelt rant will find supporters in anyone who's been at the mercy of the system - transport, healthcare ... And it so often seems to happen when you have to be somewhere - it's not a situation where you can just turn round and go back home. Frustration, anxiety, anger all make for a toxic mix, and it's a credit to most people that, like you, they continue to restrain themselves. Except, I can imagine your pencil digging into the paper ... ;):hug:

  • Like 2
3 hours ago, northie said:

Your heartfelt rant will find supporters in anyone who's been at the mercy of the system - transport, healthcare ... And it so often seems to happen when you have to be somewhere - it's not a situation where you can just turn round and go back home. Frustration, anxiety, anger all make for a toxic mix, and it's a credit to most people that, like you, they continue to restrain themselves. Except, I can imagine your pencil digging into the paper ... ;):hug:

 

Thank you for that. It is invariably at one's most anxious times that misconnections and delays occur. Must be some corollary of Murphy's Law. But writing helped in the moment, even if these were originally done in block caps. 

  • Like 2
2 hours ago, Headstall said:

The third one choked me up, buddy. A defeated man... victim of ineptitude. Can I offer you a heartfelt :hug:  ?  I'm hoping you finally got there to no serious detriment xoxo

 

I got there, eventually. After sleeping on the airport floor overnight, too tired to be livid. These were written as a good way to vent, as my difficulties were not made by the ground staff or flight crew. 

  • Like 1
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