Hapless Gaff Poem by John Weber

The teleprompter tumbles
in the clamorous migration
of doting interns and
banner-waving believers,
as the majority rallies
yet again toward fervor
behind pitch-black sound bites
guaranteed to stir frothing
complacency of thought.

As the seconds stretch in the
arc of gravity, the press core
readies their cut-to-tape excuses
while half the bodies on stage
begin talking to their sleeves
with darting eyes hushed
behind nearly opaque lenses
until the shattering collapse
and surrender of yet another
useful tool to destruction.

Thousands of eyes turn
in absolute unison to beseech
the captain for a message
to resonate, to cut the pasteurized
void left in the breath of calm
between his mid-sentence message
about the importance of maintaining
calm in the face of financial adversity
and that shocking interruption bound
by clumsy circumstance in tumble.

Instead of recognizing
such folly with human
understanding, he lowers
his eyes in silence
while whisked away
in a swift procession
of escape.