SHOWCASE SUNDAY

On Monday I Flew to Selma

with my brother’s friend Bob
in his little green 210 Cessna
and my hair was up in a ponytail
and I had on this cute pink top

and on the way back
he let me take the wheel
and it’s very sensitive, that wheel,
even the slightest movement
makes the plane move
and I wasn’t nervous, no,
not with Bob there,
but it wasn’t much fun, either –
too much responsibility,
but oh boy how the world looks
different from up there,
the cars all tiny
and Bob all big right there beside me
our shoulders touching
Whaddoyathink, Kid? he shouted
over the noise of the motor

and three days later
my head is still spinning a little,
I’m so happy we’re friends,
me and Bob,
like he could be my father,
but he’s not,
and he could be my lover,
but he’s not,
He’s Bob, and the slightest
little move he made in that plane,
I felt it.

- Irene Latham

I really did ride to Selma with my friend Bob... it was my first time to be up in a small plane, and it was really cool but it also made me feel very fragile and small. Since then Bob has also taken me up in a different plane -- I think he had high hopes of turning me into a pilot. Alas. It's not for me. But I wouldn't have known that had I not given it a whirl.

"If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise."

- Robert Fritz