A stream of consciousness piece that came to me this past August. I was at the Albany International Airport waiting to pick up my brother. He was flying in from South Dakota to spend a few days with family in New York. This poem reminisces about a few things that happened around me before his plane showed up.

BAGEL AT THE AIRPORT

plain
no cream cheese
apple cinnamon jelly
toasted, please
flight's on time so far
only half hour or so to go
sit down
do a puzzle
listen to other people on their cellphones
people stare at screens of arrivals and departures
some smiling
some not
some on time
some not
people talk on cellphones while luggage wheels click on tiles
do they know where they're going?
they're not looking, so they must
two women behind me argue in Japanese
it's fun figuring out who's angry at whom
because I can't tell
more people walking away from flight screens
some still looking back
some not
it's a good bagel
crunchy on the surface
chewy inside
hot all through
jelly melts in all the right nooks
maybe I should have gotten cream cheese
those Japanese women are gone
they all left together
all with the same expression
and now I'll never know who was angry