Shimmering images of silver lines
Uprights and bisections: square, solid, whole.
Then the whine of a dark flying shark -
Impact. What we saw - what we see
Through a lens unsteadily:
Second-hand sight
In slow motion close-up
The plane disappears -
Is swallowed by the building completely
A parody of diving into a reflecting pool:
This specific splash a fireball.
From every angle the blue sky and sunlight sparkles
On the 767, the seven-six-seven:
Each time the moment before is seen
I hold my breath -
Still astounded at the act
Still incredulous at its impact.
Like broad blades slicing into loaves
Like butter spreading
On hot toast
The planes
Dissolved.
The digital images up close
Echo the shapes of the towers
Pixelated blurred close-ups of steel squares
Shimmer, a mirror of the windows' steel faces
Cohering, on fire, for two hours.
Some had arms like swallows' wings
Like swifts in flight: frozen gracefully by film
The shocking maw of the crash site
A black backdrop to their descent;
A startled flock of thousands of sheets of paper
Swirling, spiralling slowly, surrounding them.
Thirty second progressive collapse -
The clouds of debris form the shape that was falling
Pervade and pertain for a while
Dirty puffy reminder of height
And solidity: Compounded
Compressed:
Rolled away in a cloud.
(c) su 2004
