Best Armrests Poems

Apprehensive and panic-stricken
I practice assuming the crash position .
While a “ fasten seatbelt” sign flashes
like a beacon, foretelling our demise,
cool beads of sweat form on my forehead.
A paralyzing anxiety washes over me.
My knuckles are chalk white as
my hands grip the armrests.
I try to swallow but...

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St. Elmo's Fire

'Twas a fall eve on our flight to the coast
Dressed in my livery this journey I'd host.
A storm was predicted, we would fly 'round 
With instrument help from cockpit to ground.

No form of the storm yet could be seen
Our 747 flew like a...

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Gnawed nails dig into worn plastic armrests
Stinging alcohol burns the skin
A sharp point glints in the fluorescent light

Rough hands grip the shoulder
Restraining it against the comfortless chair
He says to relax,
But the tremors intensify.

Deep breath
Lungs release
Cartilage crunches
Blood flows

Shiny metal ring
Rests against the ear
A new opening in...

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Outside you just see the marquis,
it’s ancient lights all glittery,
amidst a city past it’s prime,
hallmark of a more genteel time.

This was a movie palace once,
now mostly stage, theatric fun,
larger than Broadway’s hallowed grounds,
though it’s the only stage around.

Old New York has dozens of plays,
here just...

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I can feel my 40 year old mind awake from slumber;
But these brown eyes stare back at me with a defiance 
That I know to have belonged to  a 14 year old me.
Consider this unsolicited advice from a doppelganger.  

That pale white butterfly...

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Right foot into this little dimple that you can toe in on aggressively so it’s opposing the left hand, then you can, like, zag over across to this flat, down-pulling crimp that’s small but you can bite it.
[From Honnold’s climbing notebook.]

For me, the most transcendental...

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(For Ibrahim Abu Thuraya - Gaza)

For sale: a wheelchair 
in good condition.  
The seat is black 
wide, warm
and clean (blood stains
washed off); 
the two push handles: soft and comfy;  
they have been held with love 
and care; 
the armrests rarely have been used;...

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Remembering the Henry J

By Elton Camp

When we speak of an automotive blunder
Most know how Ford’s Edsel went under
But there was another mistake made before
Though few recall that little car anymore

Henry J. Kaiser’s company made a big car
But he thought one cheaper would go far
The magnate...

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As a small boy
the barber would sit me
on a wooden bench
placed across the armrests
of his chair. 
Mirrors in front and behind
imprisoned countless copies
of me stretched out 
as far as I could see.
There were no doors
in those other worlds
to escape.
I didn’t want to be there.

Trapped in...

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French
             Beret'd
           Director's
          Natty perch
     Leather-back tripod
   ...

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There I sit so quietly limp and still
Till someone’s body does lie in me and fill

My arms are now a faded blue
And patchy at best 
Peeking through are my wore nimble armrests

My recliner action is since been broken 
But yet this chair is a favorite...

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I close my eyes and don’t look down.
The plane shakes in the storm,
The captain assures us we’re okay.

I want to be back on the ground,
But two more hours left to go.
I close my eyes and don’t look down.

Out the window, people stare at the lightning,
We...

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“What Makes You Flinch”

What makes me flinch?

When someone trips on flat earth,
And frantically looks around
Hoping that no one, no one at all saw
What had just happened
But everyone did.
That makes me flinch.

When I look at my schedule,
And realize that everything
Has been booked for the same day
And...

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I was given two options
to follow two different armrests, outstretched.
One was a famous twist in ecstasy
Except anything in driver seat.
The other was a befuddled theatrical pedagogy
Whence the aviation was having a heart attack!
I looked inwardly and opted the third one
After all this is a mere...

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 WHEELCHAIR BOUND

Dots appeared and disappeared 
a single sunray flashed onto 
wheelspokes, canvas seat 
 comfortably frayed 
bought secondhand
her unexercised legs flabby 
window bars rusted, panes cracked
nobody cared

there she sat thinking about 
cooking porridge with cinnamon 
tricky to wheel in 
two meter wide kitchen 
lighting...

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