The Day We Missed Our Plane by Lucille Lang Day
Grass rippled greenly on the bluff
all the way to the wild roses. American
goldfinches flitted from tree to tree
in their black-and-yellow finery. A female
cardinal, crested and dusky red, hopped
on a table just outside the window,
and sunlight gleamed like tiny fires
on the sea off Nantucket. The coffee
was rich and steaming, and we chatted
with our friends so long there was no time
to get change for the bus at the store
or walk to the bus stop, so we borrowed
four dollars and Wade drove us to the bus,
parking to block it until we got on.
When we got off, we bought sandwiches
to have on the plane and a toy lobster
for four-year-old Autumn. Early for
the ferry, we waited in the shade
while the July sun hugged our luggage
as it held our place in line. The sea,
calm and blue-green, rocked us gently
all the way to Hyannis, where we picked
up our rental car and set off to get
a toy lobster for six-year-old Sabine,
who wanted one that said Cape Cod.
After several wrong turns we found
a gift shop with Cape Cod lobsters,
but they were bigger than the one
from Nantucket, so we bought two,
one for Autumn and one for Sabine,
and wondered what to do with the little one.
It was hot and there was a cool restaurant
on the same block as the gift shop,
and we were hungry, so we went in
and ordered chef’s salads. Afterward
we got gas and set the GPS for Boston.
When we reached Highway 6, cars were
inching along like sea turtles over dunes
for as far as we could see. We looked
at each other and at the dome of sky,
so relentlessly blue. It was way
too late to fix this: we had goofed.
Forthcoming in Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place (Blue Light Press, November 2020)
Lucille Lang Day is the author of six full-length poetry collections and four chapbooks. Her seventh collection, Birds of San Pancho and Other Poems of Place, will appear from Blue Light Press in November 2020. She has also coedited two anthologies, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California and Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California, and has published two children’s books and a memoir. Her many honors include the Blue Light Poetry Prize, two Josephine Miles/PEN Oakland Literary Awards, the Joseph Henry Jackson Award, and ten Pushcart Prize nominations. She is the founder and director of a small press, Scarlet Tanager Books. https://lucillelangday.com