📃 Daily(ish) poem → 00330 ◊ Seattle Residents Baffled by Bright Object in Sky ◊ David Kirby
Seattle Residents Baffled by Bright Object in Sky
“Others called the Fire Department, even though it was the sky that was on fire. They had to call somebody.”
– The New York Times Magazine, April 18, 2021
It’s just a rocket, its parts ablaze,
but it’s a comet to some, a meteor shower to others.
To many, it’s a fleet of alien starships,
sailing past us because our airport is too small.
Some glance up and go their way,
late for work already or taking a child to the ER.
What they all see are themselves:
rational, thrilled, too busy to care.
Some call the Fire Department,
even though it’s the sky that’s on fire.
At the other end of the line, the dispatcher
says What is your name and What is your location
and Tell me exactly what happened and then
Now you belong to the heavens.
—David Kirby
—found in Delta Poetry Review (Summer 2023; Vol. 5, Iss. 14)