35

Drivers out on the bridge

Slowing down as they go through a lane shift

Wires snap

Concrete gives

Metal twisting

And everything tumbling

At the end of the work day

Stuck in traffic

don't feel when the road sways

Underneath

Concrete gives

Metal twisting

And everything tumbling

To their partners and kids

Don't suspect anything 'til the bridge splits

Wires snap

Concrete gives

Metal twisting

And everything tumbling down

Where I sat

I saw brake lights flash

And I pictured them

all the people

Their faces in free fall

the water beneath

I pushed my palms against the table hard to see if it hurt

Were it glass

would I have shattered it?

Could I battle every impulse to panic and then win

Swim out through the metal twisting

Upward like a sculpture or some terrible beast?

People trapped in their cars

Put both feet on the glass and then kick hard

Water pours in

Seatbelts twist

River flowing

And everything going down

People under the water line

Workers sift through the wreckage of it

find

Seatbelts stuck

Water fills up

River flowing

And everything going downstream

On the dining room wall

I watched it

Play in the reflection of the television

The reversal in the mirror hung

I could see it all

How the dust clouds gather color as they billow out

Shades change shifting in the night

From the lights atop an ambulance

Like a firework's flash

then that otherworldly glow

In the smoke thrown in the aftermath blows

Almost frozen for a moment there

I could see it all

Every dust cloud

Shattered glass

Billow out on the TV

Wires snap

And the concrete gives

Metal twists up and onward

I can see it all

Every dust cloud

Shattered glass

Billow out on the TV

Wires snap

And the concrete gives in

Metal twists up and onward

I watch

And I can see it all

All the wreckage

All the cars piled

In the river and the rail yard

The metal twists

Wires snap

Concrete blocks split

And dangle from tie rods

And metal twists up

Wires sway

When a breeze blows

In the distant

Sirens glow

I can see it all

Where they look for survivors

Searchlights float

Change the color of smoke clouds

And shadows still fall

People under the water

People trapped in their cars

Kick and try to get out

People still with their seat belts on

Pets they had in the back

And car seats

And I watch it on TV lying down here

On the floor in the dining room

reversed in the mirror

Where I know I'm not dreaming now

But I know I've been sleeping

I just don't know since when

I only know that it's light outside

I only know that the rent is still late

When did they find out the concrete gave?

When did they learn that the wires snapped?