LAX

Gateway to the Pacific:
a sprawling web of asphalt stitched
with glowing red and blue and green,
hundreds of thousands of people some
with baggage some without
arriving on airplanes the size of
monuments like the steel carousels
beyond immigration lines and stamps,
a haven for tired travelers from
places far across the sea, all flights
incoming planes circle
above waiting to touch down
while cars crawl along painfully
honking and weaving and loading
the sweet smell of smog and jet fuel
the familiar sound of cars whizzing by
on highways six lanes wide
and roaring jet engines
and scampering feet
the endless beat of LAX.