1,000 Miles Above Ground

I built an airplane made of stone...

1.

The people on the bridge

saw the low cloud

and felt their roofs rip off.

**

2.

"Larry, Larry, we're going down!"

***

3.

On the approach to National

scrapes still cling to the side of the bridge.

***

4.

It took days to lift the crooked bird from the water.

It took hours for them to repaint the tail white,

so no one would see the brand name.

*****

5.

737-100

Cigar-shaped engines

******

6.

He jumped in to save the stewardess. He didn't jump in to save the peanut packets or the overwing emergency doors. The man handed off the slick rope and slipped under.

*******

7.

"Good afternoon, Air Florida ticketing."

"Hello, I'd like to buy a one-way ticket."

"What's your destination?"

"The 14th Street Bridge."

********

8.

When I was very young, watching this,

the moving boxes filled the warm house.

My grandmother had the white car and we had the silver one,

and snow buffetted the battlefield.

What did I know then, while staring at the dark water,

of the other cold darknesses that make us all drown?