ARC OF IMPACT (a poem)

Monday, April 14, 2025

The steel shaved the concrete
and shot a trail of light.

The flash,
crash and fracture
of an old layer,
to the bone,
a heat so bright.

Skirrrr, szckreech,
the squeal of an auto,
that engine turning
the weight against Terra firma—
a thousand horses thunder.

82 into a slide,
a transmission,
a mode and code
to reverse the object,
to break the road.

The mark,
the gouge,
no grazing,
a growl—
elements in howl
and the friction
of forces at play.

Slow motion,
panning,
the flip of a vehicle,
the crunching side
and singed interior,
the driver and our path,
the passengers and the wreckage,
the mass of us
in a mangled mess.

A fellow traveler
to witness,
pulled us from the wreckage,
a Samaritan grace—
hold on, human,
hold on.