The flight attendant is offering me drinks & oysters
I can\u2019t afford. Can she see my mind is elsewhere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I showed up to the airport hungover, eyes
bloodshot, every pulse of me wanting to be elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You called me the night before, but I couldn\u2019t reach
the phone. We don\u2019t know when I\u2019m getting elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My briefcase reeks of vomit. The cab driver agrees\u2014
why couldn\u2019t he have picked up a pretty girl, driven elsewhere? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I went out & started tab after tab, rekindling
old friendships after living elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The pilot\u2019s voice is loud on the intercom, directing
storm clouds & bird migrations elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We both thought I could handle this trip.
I\u2019m coming home after floating elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But my pupils\u2014dark, swollen\u2014my forehead\u2014
flushed with night sweat & booze bought elsewhere\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n
they tell me to stay away from the plane propeller, to not
take this life with a rope or blade elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My pupils say, this shame won\u2019t pass, but you
don\u2019t have to speak, Remi, don\u2019t have to go elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remi Recchia is a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Writing at Oklahoma State University. He is a transgender poet playwright from Kalamazoo, Michigan. His work has appeared in Barzakh Magazine, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Front Porch, Gravel, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, <\/em>and Haverthorn Press,<\/em> among others. He holds an MFA in Poetry from Bowling Green State University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ghazal for a Business Trip The flight attendant is offering me drinks & oystersI can\u2019t afford. Can she see my mind is elsewhere? I showed up to the airport hungover, eyesbloodshot, every pulse of me wanting to be elsewhere. You called me the night before, but I couldn\u2019t reachthe phone. We don\u2019t know when I\u2019m … <\/p>\n