TWO BOMBS

by Linda Lerner

one bomb went off across the country
as we sat in Lindy’s having  dinner on 53rd & 7th,
another at Times Square failed to detonate---

the first of May, hot, more like August
people crammed the nine block space
between where we were and the theater
we headed toward on 44th & Broadway,
---head turning human sized comic creatures.
a torch blazing in the fleshed arm of
the statue of liberty lit the way

In L.A. someone  brought in a 100 lb mk4
to detonate in cities across America---
the plan: to target as many as possible;

swept up by the crowd, the dizzying sound images
of clowning absurdity, a streaming billboard of people
brought to a sudden halt--

In New Mexico, birthplace of the Atom Bomb
a seven foot long warhead was transported in a van,
in NYC,  brought in a Nissan Pathfinder

metal barricades  coraled  a sprawling crowd
toward 8th Ave. no explanations as we
walked between police & fire trucks
rumors of kid’s pranks, security for Ahmadinejad  at the UN, etc.

across the country, a cold war practice bomb
purchased on Craig’s list and filled with poems
traveling at the speed of free thought
began exploding dissenting ideas

In N.Y.C. a propane type bomb meant to kill
as many as possible, failing to explode
smoked itself out in a car purchased
on Craig's list, setting off relief and fear

the other bomb“surfing across America...”
keeps growing more powerful

Linda Lerner is the author of twelve poetry collections, the most recent being Living in Dangerous Times (Pressa Press) and City Woman (March Street Press). Recent poems appear in Tribes, Onthebus, The Paterson Literary Review, The New York Quarterly, Home Planet News, and Van Gogh’s Ear. She has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 1995 Andrew Gettler and she began Poets on the Line, the first poetry anthology on the Net for which she received two grants for the Nam Vet Poets issue. Its anthology remains on line although new publication ceased in 2000.
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