at 911
from george washington’s bridge things
sped up and slowed down
at once, that day-today,
fire and steel
were both also
silent for an instant, twisting firstly into one another, and then
suddenly very loud, cacophonous
like the inside of thunder, i heard
the man of steel shriek
in wonder of
why he made
sky scrapers at all, for an instant;
perhaps he had a memory of babel…
and yet the angels
kept catching bodies
in mid air, in sheer kindness, and
beneath i saw only
the dragon cloud; and
on all sides
as we all fell together, so many bodies tumbling
down through our Styrofoam cups-
falling curiously in slow motion-
God seemed to have lifted His Thumb,
but was also very much there, catching us all as we landed
into the kindness of His enormous tender endless Palms.
At least, that’s how it looked from the first father’s bridge that day!
Already remembering each person’s name in mid air!