Kaleidoscope

This is not the first time the world has ended,
The sky in pieces on the floor,
The towers of Babel tumbling down,
The Big Bang, and the mushroom cloud
Diaspora.

 

I want to say:
Have some perspective.

 

9.8 meters per second
Per second
417 meters
and 3,000 lives
Flash-burned.
 

History circles
and devours its own tail
Shedding scales of kaleidoscopic debris
Radioactive origami confetti
 

Witness the parade:
 

Walking northwards in sensible shoes on Central Park West
That was real.
A car radio stuttered with static and news
at the corner where I lent a cheap pair of sandals
to a woman in heels,
And we shared a bottle of water.
Hours later, the stragglers came home painted in dust,
Pale as ghosts,
Or a memory.
My memory
 
My kingdom for a heart.