When the City Fell From the Sky Poem by Lisa Alexander Baron
I was standing in the town square staring up at trees spiraling down on their bulky heads and landing with their roots thrust up like errant toes or fingers from a grave. I heard the houses bellow as they gave up, as their shoulders sagged and snagged star by star like the back of a black coat catching white lint bit by bit. When the city fell from the sky, I covered my ears as atonal notes from that final fugue stuttered like old blood from the ripped linen bandages of the clouds. And here, now -- even in the safety of the here-to-stay dark: the slow play and re-play of that black-and-white still, of that father's fist clenching and unclenching his son's hand before he let him go.
Lisa Alexander Baron's most recent book is While She Poses, a collection of poems prompted by visual art (Aldrich P, 2015). She is a writing and speech coach and teaches at LaSalle University in the business school.
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