Larry's Blog

CLEARED TO LAND

LAWRENCE TOWER, SEVEN SIERRA GULF
REPORTING 2 MILE RIGHT BASE
FOR TWO THREE

LAWRENCE TOWER, SEVEN SIERRA GULF
REPORTING 2 MILE RIGHT BASE
FOR TWO THREE

SEVEN SIERRA GULF
CLEARED TO LAND

CLEARED TO LAND
SEVEN SIERRA GULF

Even bishops have a chair.
Here I am floating in the air
four parts nitrogen, one part oxygen.
But everybody thinks
there’s nothing there.

LAWRENCE TOWER. WIND CHECK
FOR SEVEN SIERRA GULF.

WIND IS ZERO TWO ZERO
AT ONE FOUR

Roy’s grandma was blown down
at Hancock Towers.
Should have held onto a lamp post.
Could she walk on my wing?
(Air speed is 78 miles per hour.)

LAWRENCE TOWER. CHEROKEE
THREE NINE FOUR FOXTROT LIMA,
OVER ROCKINGHAM WITH
INFORMATION ECHO.

FOUR FOXTROT LIMA. REPORT 2 MILES
RIGHT DOWNWIND FOR TWO THREE.
TRAFFIC IS A SKYHAWK DEPARTING
TO THE NORTHEAST

RIGHT DOWNWIND TWO THREE.
TRAFFIC NOT IN SIGHT.
FOUR FOXTROT LIMA.

Awhile ago I circled slowly
over a lake watching the wake
of small pleasure boats.
Most people don’t know
how you make a plane fly slow.
(Even with no power, a plane
can fly very fast.)

Medium power, pull back on the yoke,
flaps on full. At 50 miles per hour,
still flying. But after that
she would fall like a box.

LAWRENCE TOWER. MOONEY
NINE ZERO SEVEN SEVEN KILO
READY FOR TAKEOFF. REQUEST
STRAIGHT OUT DEPARTURE.

MOONEY SEVEN SEVEN KILO.
HOLD SHORT, LANDING TRAFFIC.

HOLDING SHORT, SEVEN SEVEN KILO.

Engine quiet. Feathers curved
for slow flight. Wings spread.
For a moment, I am not like
the people down there, driving
in trucks, walking along sidewalks,
standing in fields.

I do not know, really,
where I am. Somewhere in the air.
We say “over Lowell”, but really,
who knows where we are?

MOONEY SEVEN SEVEN KILO
TAKE POSITION AND HOLD.

POSITION AND HOLD
SEVEN SEVEN KILO.

At takeoff I saw a red-tailed hawk
curve arrow-like beyond
my left wing. ( It was a hawk.)
All my life I’ve watched them.
Never seen them furl their wings
and dive. I do not dive, but soar,
waiting for the sound when
wheels hit ground. Then
to put wings away, until
another day of playing in clouds.

CESSNA SEVEN SIERRA GULF
NEXT LEFT TURN WHEN POSSIBLE.
CONTACT GROUND
ONE TWO FOUR POINT THREE.