THINGS TO DO AS THE PLANE GOES DOWN

Try not to add to the screams.
There will be enough, and more.
Your phone will fail you.
Whisper goodbyes to your heart
and all who dwell there.
Think of the past times you promised
yourself: today it is okay to die—
and tried to mean it.
Return to your breath
as you have been trained.
Even facing the imminent darkness,
you still can’t be sure how many
are left to count. Don’t count.
Only breathe in with gratitude.
And surrender.

*

Sharon Corcoran is a native of St. Louis now living in southern Colorado. At Washington University in St. Louis she studied psychology and linguistics as an undergraduate, and completed an MFA degree in writing there. She has worked in the arts and in a university setting, and as an editor and book indexer. She also translated (from French) the writings of North African explorer Isabelle Eberhardt in the works In the Shadow of Islam and Prisoner of Dunes published by Peter Owen Ltd., London. Her poems have appeared in Kansas Quarterly, River Styx, Canary, and The Buddhist Poetry Review, among other journals.