Leaving Ben-Gurion

Was hard for me.

Coming back to a flatter world

Built on routine: cups of coffee, commutes.

Coming back home after conversations

that began with Chapin and ended with carat.

Being surrounded by those who brought Prada into the desert

and then felt angry when the dust rose.

I was raised on public school and peanut butter;

I knew a life west of the Hudson.

Then again, planes brought out the worst in me

I thought of death and destruction

Leaving family, vacations

Everyone I loved suddenly gone out from under me.

So we ordered plastic cups

and said “l-chaim” – to life! –

and downed our sleeping pills on half a beer.

Jamie Schmidt

JAMIE SCHMIDT has a MA in Writing from The Johns Hopkins University and she is a PhD student in American Studies at Saint Louis University. She is a former newspaper reporter and her writing has been published in Ironminds, WriteThis.com, and the Starving Arts Literary Magazine.