“Hypothesis: An Interview” by Tyler Mills | Blackbird v13n1

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Hypothesis: An Interview
The 21 crews after 4 months training have been reduced to 15.
—Minutes from the Third Target Committee Meeting, May 1945

One chair in a room of chairs is empty,
but the pilot should not sit.
Describe your bank and turns.

Several others wait in their bunker
playing bridge. Did you doze
during practice runs

from Puerto Rico to Venezuela?
The pilot thinks of the halo
of yellow around the window.

Describe what you feel like alone.
In a metal case. On a metal floor.
Do you have a wife?

The pilot told one girl
his family were farmers, from Utah . . .
Tell us. What is the difference

between handling a B-17 and a B-29?
The pilot remembers eating
under a coconut tree. We understand

you already almost died
once: inside your glass house.
The right wheel didn’t descend—

and the ground came closer,
looked like it would scrape
your skin off.

You’ve done well. But how
about being alone. In the light.
Get ready for the secret of your life.