Lori Desrosiers has captured the essence of being a mother in the poem that is also the title of her book “Keeping Planes in the Air.” In this poem her elderly mother’s job was to keep planes in the air through the power of her worried prayers. But after the family stopped telling her of their travels Desrosiers takes over the job when her own daughter is in flight. With subtle humor and soft poignancy, she reaches back into a relatable childhood of a day at the beach and then jumps to the future wishing the surf could carry her back. In compact and vivid lines, a bridge and a ferry transport us to the lives of children, fishermen and immigrants, and both the tangible and intangible of what awaits on the other side of the walk or trip. Her writing embodies the power of poetry with poems that transform ordinary moments into transparent clouds of emotions and thoughts that whirl and dazzle around your own ordinary moments.