Pantoum for a Plane Ride

A girl stands at terminal nineteen
Violet suitcase, eggshell label
Checking in she’d felt obscene
Stoic gaze, heart unstable

Violet suitcase, eggshell label
Offense to her darkened gaze,
Stoic gaze, heart unstable
No persuasion conquers strays

Offense to her darkened gaze,
Which didn’t heal despite the flight
No persuasion conquers strays
Different city, same old plight

Which didn’t heal despite the flight?
Her heart, her mind or both? and more?
Different city, same old plight
She was the pilot of her great war

Her heart, her mind or both? and more?
In disarray on her hotel room floor!
She was the pilot of her great war
That a hundred million miles would do nothing for

In disarray on her hotel room floor
The girl asks her glass twin:
“How on earth will I escape
this battle I am in?”

“Slow down and love the things you’ve seen,
The light the dark and gray in between”
This was all the glass twin said
But a gear had shifted in the girl’s head

The light the dark and gray in between
Was on her side, though it sounds obscene
And a gear had shifted in the girl’s head
All the things she had misread
Turned clear as glass from one imposing blur —

I tell you this because I am her.

A woman stands at terminal nineteen
Violet suitcase, eggshell label
Checking in she’d felt serene
and home had welcomed her back in.

and home had welcomed her back in.

---

Jade Pretell has always had a passion for telling stories. If not creating narratives through writing, Pretell enjoys telling stories through music. Throughout her life so far, music and writing have gone hand in hand in developing what she creates, and Pretell currently continues to learn from the art forms at Los Osos High School.

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