THE MIDDLE SEAT

What space can we attempt to claim

bracketed here inside a plane.

The seat-back drops: a paradox.

You’re packed inside a folding box.

Each book-end stakes out territory.

Is this her armrest; whose fresh story?

Embrace your own invisible.

In fiction find a miracle.

Invent a life from something lost.

A ticket to another coast.

We land where we’ve lived before.

The heart darts through the open door.