We three enter the plane to find
Three men in our seats,
One who apparently wanted an aisle seat
Instead of the window one he was assigned,
The other two apparently unable
To read the number above their heads
And know their seats were the next row up.
They said, “Well we could move, I guess.”
Silence. “Or you could just take
Those seats.” My sister and I take the seats
Assigned to them. My other sister says,
“I want the aisle seat on my ticket,”
And the man makes a big production
Of moving his suitcases and settling in
The seat that was assigned to him
In the first place, and he says when she sits
Next to him, “There, now we’re all happy,”
And I would shoot him right between the eyes
If I had a gun and then I’d do my time.
BIO: Shaun Perkins is the founder/director of the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry. A Teaching Artist with the Oklahoma Arts Council, she is a poet, columnist, podcast co-host of Wacky Poem Life and webmaster for a variety of nonprofits. More information can be found at poemlife.org.
