Syracuse Departure

SYRACUSE DEPARTURE Twelve degrees at seven AM and the weather a sharp bitter force off Lake Ontario The daybreak is luminescent gray, the bright star rising, the cloud cover glowing like the opalescent door to the mysterious power source of some Jules Verne wonder Passengers board Instructions are given Men and machines withdraw like medics now useless to a resurgent warrior On runway twenty-eight / ten she turns into the wind Bright light splits the clouds The big fan jets roar and her man-made mean heat makes her airborne and silver, crashing through the morning, banking east above the city, screaming toward the sun Emanuel Carter