Ode to the Air Traffic Controller

　　by Joshua Beckman

　　 Melbourne， Perth， Darwin， Townsville，

　　 Belém， Durban， Lima， Xai-Xai planes

　　 with wingspans big as high schools

　　 eight hundred nine hundred tons a piece

　　 gone like pollen， cumulus cirrus

　　 altostratus nimbostratus people getting skinny

　　 just trying to lose weight and the sky

　　 the biggest thing anyone ever thought of

　　 Acceptance， Vancouver， Tehran， Maui

　　 school children balloons light blue nothing

　　 one goes away not forever， in fact

　　 most people， at least if you are flying

　　 Delta， come down in Salt Lake City

　　 Fairbanks， Kobe， Aukland， Anchorage

　　 from Cleveland a hundred Hawaii-bound Germans

　　 are coming in low， not to say too low

　　 just low pull up Amsterdam pull up Miami

　　 historically a very high-strung bunch

　　 smokers eaters tiny planes must circle

　　 we have bigger problems on our hands

　　 New York， Tokyo， Hong Kong， Paris

　　 the boy who has been ignoring dinner

　　 throws thirteen paper planes out the window

　　 does it look like this？ Tashkent， Nome， Rio，

　　 Hobart， yes yes it looks just like that

　　 now do your homework Capetown Capetown

　　 lots of rain good on one good on two

　　 go three go four go five go six

　　 Mau， Brak， Zella， Ghat， an African parade

　　 good on two good on three

　　 please speak English please speak English

　　 good on five good on six gentlemen：

　　 the world will let us down many times

　　 but it will never run out of coffee

　　 hooray！ for Lagos， Accra， Freetown， Dakar

　　 your son is on the telephone the Germans

　　 landed safely Seattle off to Istanbul

　　 tiny planes please circle oh tiny planes

　　 do please please circle