Amy Bowers TV Talk Earth, Wands and Fire

Ground Zero

I smell it the minute I come up from the subway. Smoke and fire, two months old. People are queued up at the Red Cross. Police hold positions on the street.

"Where is ground zero?" I ask a guy.
"You're not cold?"
It's cold out but I'm fine.
"Six blocks from here," he says, showing the way.
Greenwich street, six blocks
My escort waves me on
"It's a great town," he says.

Businesses are padlocked but a few restaurants stay open
as if someone will stop in for dinner and drinks
behind scaffolding, near the unburied.

People are quiet near ground zero.
A chain link fence protects the site from the public.
People stand on planters for a look
oh, they say
oh god

but there is nothing to say
so
they take pictures and shake their heads

Digital Haiku:

My publisher said,
The good news stuff is bullshit
it always has been.


The Airports
aren't bad
if you leave time
for security checks
They check the flight crews, too

My patriotism wears thin
when they run the wand
over my boobs (mine are hiding something?)
again.

Flights are on time
if no plane falls from the sky
and no guy runs through security
today

Amy Bowers
Contributing Writer
amy@marash.tv