“The Falling Man,” by C. Dale Young

Poetry faculty member C. Dale Young was recently featured in The Nation. Read an excerpt of “The Falling Man” below:

The Falling Man

The story is missing, so I fill it in—
it’s what a thinking person does to cope.
Without the details, only Death can win.

And so, the panic invariably set in,
the fires on lower floors extinguishing hope.
The story is missing, so I fill it in.

Standing on a desk, he chose the lesser sin.
The floor, too hot to stand on, began to slope.
Without the details, only Death can win.

The shattered glass, the beams then caving in,
could anyone sane maintain a shred of hope?
The story is missing, so I fill it in.

 

Read the rest of this poem here: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/the-falling-man/