Best Airliner Poems
THE LANDING - corrected
The big jetliner banked sharply left,
descending out of a bad thunderstorm,
lined up on the runway, its six landing lights
like a big chandelier suddenly turned up by
an unseen hand, the passengers sweating and
shaking, sure that death was at hand only
seconds ago, the way I felt at age eleven
facing Wallace Carter, his ugly brother Aaron,
my fists balled up like tiny hams, my skinny
arms tense, ready to take a beating and give it
back good if I could
“Go home to your mama, boy!
You ain’t got no balls, you just a fool!
Git, now, ‘fore we change our minds!”
The pilot, former Navy, had seen bad news before,
intense anti-aircraft, heat-seeking missiles, then
sudden bad weather, swaying carrier deck in the
South China Sea, the Straits of Hormuz
but thunderstorm turbulence a minor cosmic
provocation, no cause for apprehension
just focus, patience and skill
He could overshoot the carrier, take this baby
screaming into a near vertical climb, execute a
roll, break the sound barrier and then, like
the bad dog he is, lay her down on that deck
and damn any seaman who’s got something
to say! But he caught himself in time……
“I gotch y’all!” he said
“We’re comin’ in soft and slow.
There ain’t nothin’ in our way
but home y’all! Nothin’ in our
way but home!”
Airliner in the storm is not doing well
Pilot is having difficulty keeping it in the air
Tossing and turning, careering with each stormy swell
Stewardess do not tip us off, issuing us all kinds of care
Each one squelching their own internal light for our sake
My eyes are fixated on the dark clouds that appear with a glare
747 gives a quiver, a drop, and at last a shiver and shake.
Sky marshal holds onto the seat until his knuckles are white
There is a loud boom that sounds like an earthquake.
I wonder if we will make it safely or be a plane crash sight.
Others are praying, phones put away, rosary beads on their laps
I swear I see a halo around an old lady’s head and it is bright.
Suddenly there is a clap, no a series of loud angry claps.
In succession, bam, bang, bam, bang, bam, bang, bam.
The plane begins a descent and we all hear familiar flaps.
Thunder envelops us in series of freezing cold wraps
Airliner in the storm is not doing well
Others are praying, phones put away, rosary beads on their laps
Tossing and turning, careering with each stormy swell
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The milk’s gone off today, I don’t know where it’s going
It booked a cab to Stansted, then climbed aboard a Boeing.
He doesn’t have a passport, I’m sure he’ll be ejected
The milk’s gone off today, it’s not what I expected.
The temperature is soaring, this wine is turning sour
I’d better pour another glass, it may not last the hour.
Frankfurter from the barbecue tastes good inside my sandwich
I’d like to praise its tastefulness but do not speak its language.
The inertia of the markets is really not surprising
Containers zig-zag round the globe, so the mercury is rising.
Every generation wants the right to make progress
So is it any wonder that our planet’s in a mess?
This heat is creeping-up on us, look forward to a storm,
So hard to store our favourite snacks when everywhere’s so warm,
A freezer on this website is discounted - should I buy it?
Or maybe I’ll resist the urge, and simply change my diet!
When on the beach at Morecambe the onshore breeze feels fresh
But lately in the afternoon it felt like Marrakech,
You ought to watch these climate trends when booking your vacation
But don’t depend on Michael Fish when seeking information.
It’s good to greet the sunshine if you’re out of bed at dawn
It helps to scare the clouds away and ripens farmers’ corn,
You may catch its reflection when you’re polishing your car,
On-balance we could all agree, it is our favourite star.
Alba Gal swam down to the plane
It was the plane that brought her here
The remains of her Comet jet
In thousands of pieces at the ocean bottom
How the plane broke up was bad
But how Alba Gal and the others
Lost their lives was even worse
It read like something from a horror film
But was real and brutally ended life
Passengers thrown out of their seats
Necks and rib cages broken
Lungs exploded and heads cracked
Limbs later snapped like twigs
These injuries were seen later
After the bodies were recovered
Along with parts of the plane
It spoke of a tragedy beyond words
Death at 500 miles per hour
At 40,000 feet the worst way to go
Luckily most died in the plane
When it split apart like an egg
Before they hit the sea
Alba Gal died in her own way
While drinking a Gin and Tonic
An Airliner on its regular schedule
It seems the Airliner was stuck in an anywhere time module
The Airliner would take off in fligh5t in the present, but would go from current into unknown times
The flight would be smooth
The destination was supposed to be from Los Angeles to Chicago
The passengers, Pilot and entire Flight crew themselves going from through historical past
It planned on the Flight chart
Even the passengers had no idea as to what was going on and what was transpiring
Confusion and concern running through everybody’s mind
No explanation could be expelled into why and what was happening on the Airliner
Finding their way to where?
There was no getaway only time traveling entry way
Fuel was getting low
The airliner in flight, but seemed locked in time to anywhere
Stuck in time to nowhere bound
They couldn’t even return back to their time where everything started
Airliner in its own search, but loss in no find.
If all goes well
airlines will sell
seats by the pound
the less you weigh
the less you pay
to fly the world around
and yet
if a commercial Russian airliner jet
unfortunately
crashed into the sea
would there be
Aeroflotsam on the ocean
fragmented and floating free?
It's a riddle
inside a mystery
wrapped in an enema
from 1939 Soviet Union history.