A One Way Ticket

“A One Way Ticket is inspired by a poem of Kelsey Burritt’s entitled Drone. Upon first reading, I was struck by the imagery in each phrase and how each line depended on its predecessor, but was still so starkly different from it.

As my mind started imagining each scene, my eyes were already reading ahead – the text literally tugging me into the next line. I think this agile; swerving motion of the text is intentional, and crucial to the structure and character of the poem. When reading aloud, the breaths somehow feel natural despite the use of limited punctuation.

Brief pauses at the end of lines last just long enough to sip some air before the words catapult the reader back into these short, vivid scenes. There do not appear to be strong cadences in the poem, where one has time to stop and think about the last several lines … rather, the poem begs you to keep reading until it simply stops – in an entirely different place from where it began.” – Drew Worden