Anniversaries

by David Chorlton / September 18th, 2016

Every shade of darkness has its day.
People stop what they are doing
to ask the one next to them
where she or he was back when.
I was clearing away the breakfast mess
and enjoying a cheap and vulgar radio
show. When the midday soccer game
was postponed, the television screen
showed the same few seconds
over and again. It was hypnotic.
Knowing what came next
only made it more exciting. So the day
ran its course until the neighbors
came home from work with bouquets
of flags in their hands. Nobody recalls
where the moment found them
when the first order came down
for all passengers to be searched, or when
they first became subjected to scrutiny
hitherto reserved for undesirables
but there’s a camera installed
at the corner of my street
that knows exactly who is passing by
right now.

David Chorlton has lived in Phoenix since 1978. He grew up in England with watching soccer as a major part of life although he has managed to move on to other interests since then, including reading and writing poetry. Read other articles by David.

This article was posted on Sunday, September 18th, 2016 at 8:02am and is filed under Poetry.