A Story that Ends or Begins at an Airport
1.
At the St Louis Airport terminal
Workmen finally finished the seven month renovation
which no one noticed
because an airport
is a storeroom of flux
a loose collection of transitory and impermanent things
here we come home, here we leave
remembering nothing but flight numbers
and the tops of clouds
and what loved ones looked like
the day they left
the day they finally came home
quickly matching up memories
with the disjunctive of change
2
She stepped quickly away from her fears of separation
and he watched her go
waiting out each step
to see if she would look back
She would call him from her destination like she promised
and they would talk about the day they experienced apart
and she would wait patiently for the silence
in the receiver
telling her she could hang up
he was gone
She put down the phone
with a feeling she always got
a feeling she had something to say
but didn’t know how or when to say it
She went to the bathroom mirror and began to rehearse
like a faithful understudy
unsure if a time would even come for her to speak the lines
that she had written many time
into the ceiling just above her bed
