Kate Maxwell – Prophecy

Getting There

About thirty thousand feet in the air
I select another comedy

from the screen built in to the back
of a chair. Water bottle, safety card

and a novel that I’ll hardly read
all pressing firmly at my knees.

The trolley’s blocked the aisle again.
No use joining the toilet queue

waiting for the red sign to turn green
just so I can bend the bifold door

and squeeze into the only slot
of solitude on board. Instead, I choose

the second option: Chicken, please
from a weary attendant leaning over

me as she passes a tiny wine bottle
topped with a plastic tumbler

to the lady in the middle seat. The same
woman I’ve smiled at only once

before she plugged her ears and eye-
masked hours ago, then softly growled

into her neck pillow. Jealous of
such skill at sleep, I’m left to cancel

the final hours of my flight across
the globe with a dose of Hollywood

hype, sip of surrender, and a small
reheated meal, roll my ankles

and my options, swallow aspirin
sigh and count down till I get there.

Kate Maxwell is an award-winning poet who has published, in journals such as Cordite, Rabbit, StylusLit, Books Ireland and The Threepenny Review. Kate’s published two collections of poetry, Never Good at Maths (2021) and Down the Rabbit Hole (2023). She will publish her third collection in 2026. Kate’s interests include film, wine, and sleeping.