by Charlie Brice
In memory of the 270 souls lost in the
June 12, 2025 crash of Air India flight 171
Sweating in his dhoti, the little man pushes his cart along
brick streets under a cruel sun. Engine roar makes him
look at the plane rising.
How much rice does he spill on Ahmedabad’s bumpy streets
where he peddles spices, beads, even mangoes in season?
The jet passes overhead. He wishes he could be on his way
to a cool place where he could stretch out on a large bed,
spread creams on his blistered hands and feet. He imagines
the luck of the lives above him.
That night he strokes his daughter’s hair, admires its ebony
sheen. Bends down to kiss her goodnight. With child-breath
on his cheek, his blistered hands and feet go numb
with the prospect of a future.
Charlie Brice won the 2020 Field Guide Poetry Magazine Poetry Contest and placed third in the 2021 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Prize. His ninth full-length poetry collection is Tragedy in the Arugula Aisle (Arroyo Seco Press, 2025). His poetry has been nominated for the Best of Net Anthology and the Pushcart Prize and has appeared in Atlanta Review, The Honest Ulsterman, Ibbetson Street, Chiron Review, The MacGuffin, and elsewhere.