Bright sun, mackerel sky

Hallucinatory images—

The outer limits are upon us

It’s The twilight zone,

The edge of night in glaring day

First one plane – an accident perhaps

Then the other – and we know

We’ve entered the new abnormal

There’s life before

and life after

the terrorist fireball,

human missiles

plummeting

out of sight

from 90 stories

captured

for posterity

on the personal video

that reels and reels

in living color

inside our heads

Instant incineration,

Pompeian dust

a New Holocaust

preserved at the bottom

of Manhattan,

Where the Hub of the Universe

meets Jihad.

…………….CJLanger 9/20/01