Sitting in the seat of the drunk
the maudlin
the pitiful fool
the jester
the heartbreaker
the family jewel
the business man juggling his takeaway coffee
the grandmother enroute to see her family
The busy
the tired
the fraught
the lonely
the peaceful
the calm
the distracted
the lonely
I wonder who sat down here just before me
sitting in the same seats
as all of humanity
*The Taxi to the airport smells of last night’s debauchery. Eating in the cafeteria, I am covertly watching a fastidious Asian couple across from me use three thousand napkins to touch everything. Hand sanitiser is pumping. I haven’t got any and suddenly feel attacked by a thousand unseen germs.
Am I too lackadaisical about these things? What was I thinking? Eating my burger in peace. Waiting, writing verse, fighting the urge, to check my boarding pass for the hundredth time. Entering other worlds as they roam across my space. All these transient bottoms are in stationary seats. How much kinder would we all be if we simply recalled that we just sat down in somebody else seat?
Another old poem and post from The Steps We Take Within. Written, not long before the pandemic hit in 2020, I was returning from a trip to Brisbane. I thought of it today because I’m taking a flight to Brisbane on the weekend, and I’ve always recalled, since writing this poem, that we are all temporary bottoms in stationary seats. Like this earth, we walk through and take for granted. Yet we shouldn’t. It doesn’t belong to us. Nothing eventually does. How much better would it be to be present, aware and try and take care of what is in front of us at any given time, instead of believing we are entitled to it or that it is ours to do with as we please?
Oh and I always have some hand sanitiser in my bag now. It smells beautiful. We have all changed a lot since the pandemic. I don’t go to extremes, but given what was coming, perhaps that couple were very wise.
The pandemic truly changed us all in small or big ways. I carry sanitiser around too, I think it’s necessary these days. We don’t have to do too much but we still need to be a little careful.
It’s become ingrained and yes I agree it doesn’t have to be much, just a little awareness
Yeah, just the basic little things of sanitising our hands before we eat and not touching our face with dirty hands.
Wonderful writing, Kate! Thoughtful pondering and a unique perspective on empathy and compassion. 🙏🏻💞
Thanks Michelle, have a lovely day ❤️
You’re very welcome. Thank you and to you! ❤️
Deep thoughts in straight words!
My words rarely bend in poetry, it is not a medium for shadows as it is written from the heart. Thank you for reading; I enjoyed your comment.
I like the way you put it when you say that “we are all temporary bottoms in stationary seats.” Since Covid, whenever I take a seat on the bus, I sometimes wonder who occupied the space before me. We share so much in common as we move through public spaces.
Yes, Covid certainly made us all more aware of our interconnectedness and what that means in terms of health for the herd vs health for the individual.
Airports are sort of a mirror for life: a waiting room housing us before our departure from this world, while there are always arrivals coming in (the generations that will replace us). I actually started a piece around these thoughts more than a year ago – when I last flew – but sadly never got back to it. Once the moment (or emotion) is gone, it’s rare that I can ever finish such poems…