Annual Poetry Contest

Moment in History

By Kathryn Laut  
2003 Contest: Third Place

Waking on the couch,
grabbing for the elusive remote control and power button.
Bleary-eyed perception of New York City-
        The Skyscrapers are falling!
        The Skyscrapers are falling!
What a fabulous special effect;
Peter Jennings narrates solemnly as the city falls down.
Suddenly it hits me-there's no background music,
only sounds of screaming and breaking.
These television images are very real.
There's a hole in the Big Apple; a worm's eaten through.

Good morning, America.
The world isn't what it used to be.
History in the making broadcast live on every channel.
Instant replay and analysis of incomprehensible events.
Bodies falling from skyscrapers like burnt angels.
Anonymous faces I've never seen erased.

I, in my pajamas, watch the world fall down.
This living room a mundane mirage;
this moment an oasis in a desperate future afraid of what it will become.