It’s Stranger Saturday – time for a poem about a random encounter with someone I don’t know. Today, a sonnet written on a flight from New Jersey to Toronto.
For more insight into the life of a flight attendant and just good anecdotage in general, I highly recommend the podcast Betty In The Sky With A Suitcase. However I do not believe that this was Betty.
Our carry-on was regulation size:
Nine inches by sixteen by twenty two.
But, flight attendant, you were very wise
And when our bag was overstuffed, you knew.
You smiled, and asked to put it in the hold.
We argued that our bag was small enough
To stow without a hitch: we had been told!
You smiled again, and shrugged and called our bluff.
The suitcase would not fit. Not overhead
I could not cram it underneath the seat,
No matter what the website might have said
I dragged it back, acknowledging defeat.
You laughed at me, but still, you had a heart.
“Thank you”, you said, “for making me feel smart!”
Tom Juniper Poetry 