five below zero

Isi Unikowski

At 30,000 feet, only the clever calligraphy

of lights from small country towns pierces

the blindfold over the mountains. I press

my head against the window, the better

to see out; but there’s only darkness, and then

a deeper darkness where the cowling

sits like a black monocle on the night’s face,

except for one tiny light I watch below us

down there in all that black; and then it falls behind.

I imagine they’ve left the porch light on

while he helps her down the frozen front steps

because a fall in her frailty would be a disaster;

he uses the bank card to scrape ice off the windshield

while she waits for the heater to kick in;

their car carefully skirts the debris brought down

by the wind last night, then the onset of traffic

as they come into town. Their faces will never appear

in subsequent posts of the event: scarves and hats kept on,

their heads are always seen from the back, taut-necked

and attentive. I’ll be sure to read so they can hear me.

ISI UNIKOWSKI lives in Canberra, Australia. He has been widely published in Australia and overseas, including Best of Australian Poems 2022. His collections Kintsugi (2022) and Re:Vision (2025) are published by Puncher & Wattman, New South Wales.