(on the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster)

someone was handing out
Weekly Readers with
the lead story highlighting
those timeless brown curls,
someone was counting down
t minus ten, someone was turning
the t.v. to meet our faces, hearts
lifting off
with the first teacher
to go into space, palms glued
to our desks, caressing her face…

someone was crying
someone turned off the t.v.
someone said, “please
remain in your seats.”
and we all looked down
to meet the same face looking up
from our desks – burned
within 73 seconds into
unguarded eyes – and now
an image always
accompanied by
someone else’s voice-overs
.
20080128:1659
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