~Save Yourself~

The air hostess
with her smiling fingers
sings the speech of The Oxygen Mask,
of putting your own on first
which, of course is (not) selfish
but
we tend to be of no use
to anyone
if we are gasping for breath.

I breathe, somewhere
between
lightheaded, and useless
the soft plastic of the face mask
sweating in my hand.

But the drift is selfish, and I
am not allowed to be
useless
so I pull the mask close to my mouth
and continue to
suffocate.