strike your father, but take these wings in one hand and these spurs in the
other; imagine you have a cock’s crest on your head and go and mount your
guard and fight; live on your pay and respect your father’s life. You’re a
gallant fellow! Very well, then! Fly to Thrace and fight.”
—Aristophanes, The Birds 1363-9
the plane’s window, he lean-slumps. An arm
jerks, the thumb, with no nail,
like a heavy-ended hooked
club.
a first-time flier? A tremor
‘bout you?”
assault.”
AC-130’s. A 105mm cannon
and side guns. We take out buildings,
bases, all kinds of stuff.”
“Technically no. We fly at around 10,000 feet.
If you stick your finger up,
I can laser sight it
at that altitude. I can eliminate you
from the screen.
or something, like how could I do that
for a living?
But I always thought
it wasn’t much different
from any other thing.
It’s what we do,
and we do it.
great. We have a ground team
that works with us
and fighter escorts.
All of us are pretty close.
Just too slow.
I like to go fast.
Driving is the slowest, worst thing
about living. I was driving
to the airport
with my wife
and two kids
and felt like
I was going crazy.”