still run to watch planes
leave the earth
their turbines beating themselves
to velocity their hulls to rotate
their landing gears to fold
their stalks away
to show unwisely
their streaky sides
still grip suddenly the stump
of an armrest when the whale
in whose belly we recline
lurches upwards
hand fighting with gravity
whose counter-force
bodies me into my seat
gut diving blue
its depths sounding
an atmospheric river
hounding over cadastral lines
invisible from the air
once watched
as the midsection of a jumbo
was craned into place
it was only ribs and skin
vinyl coverings
green like warm water
later learnt its sibling
sliced into the java sea
later learnt it was not
an immediate flight safety issue
when mechanical hands
rolled it on the frame
saw a cachalot abreast a bark
cutting stages extended
men and spades swarming
flensed and flayed
murmured Leviathan,
exsanguinate:
today you carry these bones
to market