Like Any Other Poem by Laurence Overmire

It was. A day.
He got up, grabbed a bite to eat
Kissed his wife and kids goodbye and
Hit the freeway.

Traffic was moving well for a change
Arriving to work 20 minutes early
Waiting for the elevator, then up, up, up
87 floors, dizzying heights at the top of
The World.

There was Bill in his rumpled shirt
Downing a cold cup of coffee and scratching his head
"How are you, Bill? "
"Just fine, thanks."
(Doesn't that guy ever go home?)

He sat down at his desk
Looked out the window, sun shining bright
The cars so tiny down below
The calendar said September
10 days wasted, he ripped the page on another day
11 stared back like a long lost dream
Not yet begun.

From his appointment book
A soiled scrap of paper
Found on the streets of Jersey
8 days after the fact, sad and horrible
Dawning on the sleeping dread of our
Realization,
His daughter's name "Susie" circled
In red, a big doodled smiley face and
A birthday cake—with candles.

What it must have been
As the plane crashed through the wall
The flames forcing him to the broken
Glass
No choice but one
His arms outstretched
Like an Eagle
Taking flight
Freedom in the fall of air…

O sweet God, to taste that one last breath
of Freedom.

~ Laurence Overmire

(Previously published in New York Minute: An Actor's Memoir, Indelible Mark Publishing,2017)