Moving Sidewalk

by Lee Stockdale

My plane got in late
leaving me no time
to get from concourse A to D
for my connecting flight.

The shuttle train was out of order,
so I had to use the moving sidewalk
where I encountered a boy about five
walking in the opposite direction
from that which the sidewalk was moving in,
followed by his mother
who I thought would turn the boy around,
until she began walking with him
in the opposite direction.

They both looked so happy,
I turned around and began walking
in the opposite direction myself,
which made them smile,
when others began to see the fun,
or excitement,
or something new to be had,
by turning around
and walking in the opposite direction,
until everyone,
dozens of people with rolling bags,
turned around and began walking
what could be termed backwards,
and it no longer mattered
if I made my flight,
it was just so good
to be doing something with strangers
who all decided that you can’t
have too much of a good thing.


LEE STOCKDALE’s debut collection, Gorilla, was published in 2022 by Main Street Rag and the excellent Scott Douglass. His poetry has won the United Kingdom National Poetry Prize, the Sidney Lanier Poetry Prize, and other prizes. His poems have appeared in Poetry Review, The Guardian, Kakalak, Ekphrastic Review, and other places that, thank God, would have me. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina, and loves airports.