Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Ode to the Air Traffic Controller" by Joshua Beckman is an expansive and rhythmic poem that captures the global and ceaseless nature of air travel, juxtaposing it with the intimate, grounded realities of human life. Beckman crafts a vibrant tapestry of destinations, emotions, and the mundane, channeling through the lens of air traffic control—a profession that epitomizes the balance between the vast, abstract concept of global connectivity and the precise, critical nature of human communication and safety.

The poem opens with a litany of cities around the world—Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Townsville, and many others—immediately setting a tone of global reach and diversity. This enumeration not only highlights the scope of air travel but also the air traffic controller's oversight across continents and cultures. The mention of planes "with wingspans big as high schools" and weights described in hundreds of tons underscores the marvel of aviation, contrasting these gigantic feats of engineering with the natural world, "gone like pollen, cumulus cirrus altostratus nimbostratus."

As Beckman transitions from the macroscopic view of global air travel to the more personal and whimsical, the poem takes on a reflective quality. The struggle of people "getting skinny just trying to lose weight" amidst the backdrop of "the sky the biggest thing anyone ever thought of" speaks to the human condition—our personal preoccupations and aspirations set against the vastness of the universe and the complexities of our constructed worlds.

The poem then flows into a mix of specific destinations and seemingly mundane observations, such as "school children balloons light blue nothing," which brings a sense of lightness and ephemerality to the narrative. The mention of Delta flights coming down in Salt Lake City, among other destinations, grounds the poem in the reality of routine travel, where the extraordinary act of flying is woven into the fabric of daily life.

Beckman's use of repetition, particularly with cities and the phrase "good on one good on two go three go four go five go six," mimics the rhythm and routine of air traffic control communication, emphasizing the controlled chaos of managing numerous flights simultaneously. This repetition also serves to highlight the poem's thematic exploration of routine and the extraordinary, as well as the linguistic and cultural challenges inherent in global communication—"please speak English please speak English."

The poem's latter sections, with references to "the boy who has been ignoring dinner throws thirteen paper planes out the window" and "your son is on the telephone," introduce a personal dimension, contrasting the global scale of air traffic control with individual stories and moments. These vignettes underscore the interconnectedness of the global and the personal, the macro and the micro, and the role of air traffic controllers in navigating these intersecting realms.

"Ode to the Air Traffic Controller" concludes on a note of resilience and celebration, acknowledging the inevitable disappointments of the world ("the world will let us down many times") but also its inexhaustible offerings ("but it will never run out of coffee"). The final cheer for cities in Africa, followed by the safe landing of the German flight to Seattle and the plea for tiny planes to circle, encapsulates the poem's embrace of life's unpredictability and complexity, all managed from the air traffic controller's tower.

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