JFK to PDX

A Poem by sL

JFK to PDX
Independence Day Weekend 2019

From sleeping
strained and stretched,
my ear parallel to my shoulder,
loose strands of hair
frizzy in my peripheral,
I sit upright.
Surrounded by gray seatbacks,
the backs of heads and hats,
and the steady hum of the plane,
defying evolution above the clouds.
I’m centered between
a stranger and my lover;
I wake up with New York City’s streets still smeared to the bottoms of my shoes.
Like the statue’s lifted foot,
still and strong and sure,
And tarnished by the murk of our beings.
Posing vulnerable in the open.
Representing freedom
for all nations and our children
for 130 years.
My bones are soft and breakable,
Unlike Eiffel’s iron framework.
My human skin is not made of copper sheets.
I can’t stand still and change like Liberty.
But I am inspired by her legend.
Meanwhile, back west,
where my nephew sleeps,
Earth shook last night.
A gentle reminder that She is in charge.

© 2019 sL

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jacob erin-cilberto

the different "shes" represented here, Mother nature, Lady Liberty...the woman making her way through life trying to understand what has happened in our lifetime...i was in 8th grade when Kennedy was assassinated....and now being older i still have New York City Streets smeared at the bottom of my shoes...having been born in Bronx and lived 8 and a half years of my life there before moving to the midwest.
and now I look at Lady Liberty and wonder a couple things....why do we expect other countries to be just like us...why do we go and fight in places that maybe don't want us there? And why are we trying to keep those out of our country who are oppressed in others when we go to fight to free them...seems contradictory...but those are just things i think about...and this poem reminds me of them...
we are all so vulnerable, aren't we?
this is quite the poem sL...
j.