Sweet Parallels!
︎︎︎ Joe Amato
︎ June 28, 2025
Twice one year they missed each other
during layovers at ZRH by minutes.
Almost funny, a running joke
of cat and mouse from transfer
terminal to business lounge—
but the polished granite floor, the
gypsum board never would give up
just where their steps had fallen or
the lane they took through Passkontrolle.
One plane had taken off before
the other landed, that was all—
then reigned an humming hour:
duty-free fifths clinking through check stands,
déployantes (un)clasping in boutiques,
worst, the toasts of twelve-franc pints zum Wohl.
Let them gun for a third glimpsing! Sweet
parallels! O geometric tranq of aircraft
ranged single file at their gates,
aluminum tail fins’ Swiss crosses
red and white on a gray field,
tarmac and forest sunk in fog!
during layovers at ZRH by minutes.
Almost funny, a running joke
of cat and mouse from transfer
terminal to business lounge—
but the polished granite floor, the
gypsum board never would give up
just where their steps had fallen or
the lane they took through Passkontrolle.
One plane had taken off before
the other landed, that was all—
then reigned an humming hour:
duty-free fifths clinking through check stands,
déployantes (un)clasping in boutiques,
worst, the toasts of twelve-franc pints zum Wohl.
Let them gun for a third glimpsing! Sweet
parallels! O geometric tranq of aircraft
ranged single file at their gates,
aluminum tail fins’ Swiss crosses
red and white on a gray field,
tarmac and forest sunk in fog!
Joe Amato is a writer and culture strategist based in San Francisco. He received an inaugural Passage Prize for poetry.
Also by Joe: Breakfast
Also by Joe: Breakfast