Disorientation is temporary; no need to be irritable about your irritability...it’s as if your wig’s full of bugs, yet you don’t wear a wig...and underneath that non-wig or those earwigs you must know that plane-sitting is shit work...I mean shift work...you’d prefer to shirk but if you can’t, it’s better to be organized...fight it, take a lot of melatonin...more hellish nightmares will make waking hours seem normal...but think seriously: is that what you really want?...and since it takes a day to adjust to each time zone crossed, if you’re considering a brief trip of long distance, you might as well stay home... that way your brain won’t be in Spain while your suitcase is in Kathmandu...or is it that you left your heart in San Fran while your chest is in Pécs?...if you do decide to fly, my love, it’s okay to ask about lost luggage, but please...do not scare those you love by asking, where am I?
Susana H. Case is a Professor and Program Coordinator at the New York Institute of Technology. She is the author of: Salem In Séance (WordTech Editions), Elvis Presley’s Hips & Mick Jagger’s Lips (Anaphora Literary Press) and 4 Rms w Vu (Mayapple Press, forthcoming in 2014). Please visit her online at: http://iris.nyit.edu/~shcase/.