I was on the phone talking to my wife,
just twenty minutes into my work day.
We were meeting for lunch.
I was confirming the place.
In the distance I heard an airplane motor, coming very close.
And then a terrible crashing sound and a powerful explosion.
I spoke to my wife,”I just heard a piercing roar and an huge explosion,
I’ve got to hang up. I love you, Honey!”
I sat in stunned silence, someone screamed.
It was then I heard a sound I had never heard before:
A roar so loud it hurt my ears, a roar which continued to increase
Till my ear drums ached.
Intense desperate screaming filled the entire room.
I looked out the window and saw objects falling, smoke billowing!
It was then the ceiling gave way!
Plaster, cement, debris, everything falling!
I felt my desk start to tip, my floor crumbling,
A huge slab of cement crashed through from above.
Then all became very quiet!
(November 2001, revised 2002)
(Revised for Iowa Poetry Association entry.)