Thanks to Elizabeth Gyllensvard for “Airport Security” by David Ray from The Death of Sardanapalus: and Other Poems of the Iraq Wars. © Howling Dog Press.
Airport Security
In the airport I got wanded,
though not by a fairy princess.
I had to remove my shoes,
prove they were not twin bombs.
But the strangest scene I saw
that day was where random checks
delayed the suspicious—
the grey lady in her wheelchair
and the toddler boy tugged
from his mother’s hand, pulled
through the metal detector’s arch.
She tried to follow but was
restrained by two guards who grasped
her arms as she yelled, “But I told
him not to talk to strangers!”
The child wailed bloody murder.
A female guard patted the boy
all over, although he did not giggle.
I myself went on profiling terrorists.
They were so obvious.
