Notes from a 747

it's very early on a saturday morning
i'm sitting in a chair
bolted to the framework of a 747
which is flying through the sky
at 35,000 feet
over the Pacific Ocean

i'm reviewing a document on a computer
a dimly lit screen
as letters on my keyboard shine
through the dark cabin
as i edit words
to share with human beings
who will see every change
even though i move away
from those people
at 500 miles per hour

in the empty seat beside me
a thin computer
with its own window
listening into a world of music.
thousands of songs, collected,
from the internet,
a system of millions of networked computers
connected to people
- and ideas
- and art
- and science
all going with me

the monitor in front of me
displays dozens of digital films
and geographically follows the airplane
as it speeds across the sky

300 or more people
eating, drinking, talking, working, sleeping,
snoring…
but my headphones, cancel the noise
and play the sounds
of the magical
yo yo ma
into my ears
as i type, imagine, and think my words
into the keyboard
while making edits
to a document
that i will soon deliver

from the future

tomorrow

to the people i left
today

yesterday