The Solidarity of Landing

There is always
an awakening
when the flight
reaches New York
no one wants to miss
the descent
the street lamps
flickering in defiance
the earth rising
in concrete joy,
the bridges connecting
dusk to dawn, the wing
tilted just enough
to make the turn sexy
we lean into the abyss
and hold on tight
our bones realign
then we sit up straight
focus on the runway
and with our hundreds of
eyes, help the pilot
guide our plane
to the ground
hands flick open seatbelts
and we abandon
our common victory
and our short-lived
solidarity as the city
divides us and
welcomes us home

*

Leslie Dianne is a playwright, poet, novelist, screenwriter and performer whose work has been acclaimed internationally at the Harrogate Fringe Festival in Great Britain, The International Arts Festival in Tuscany, Italy, The Teatro Lirico in Milan, Italy and at La Mama, ETC in NYC. Her stage plays have been produced in NYC at The American Theater of Actors, The Raw Space, The Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and The Lamb’s Theater, and at Theater Festivals in Texas and Indiana. She holds a BA in French Literature from CUNY and her poetry appears in The Wild Word, Sparks of Calliope, The Elevation Review, Quaranzine, The Dillydoun Review, Line Rider Press, Flashes and elsewhere. Her writing was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.