Sunday, April 06, 2014

692 : All right, good night.

Sunday Whirl (Wordle #155) presents a list of words
that we must incorporate in a writing piece.  

The words this week are:
barrier, detail, diamond, pleat, power, strap,
swing, suspend, tough, unit, waterfall, zip

All right, good night.

We don’t know
We will probably
Never know.
But we can imagine the details.

First Class, all diamonds, 
Pinstripes, pleats and fur.
They get the metal cutlery
And fine tablecloths.
Their pearls swing as they walk.

Then there is business class,
The people with real power,
Good cutlery too.
But a leaning to the practical
Frugal with their money
But not wanting to tough it out
In the economy class battlers
Back behind the curtain barriers.

And there, in economy,
People sit, packed in,
Elbows pulled to their sides,
Knees against the seat in front,
Tables down, with a tray of 
Soft inoffensive pap,
Befitting a plastic fork,
Watching equally soft,
Inoffensive pap,
On the video unit
In the seat in front.

Common to all of these
Diverse peoples
Is a shared destiny.
They waited together,
Albeit in different lounges,
The boarded together,
Albeit by different doors,
And now, strapped into seats
In a large metal box
Suspended in the sky,
They travel together.
After a fashion.

In a control tower
A message is received
Acknowledged and then
The channel goes dead.
Just a loud angry hiss
Like a waterfall
In a jungle,
A rushing sound,
Going nowhere.
Then nothing.
Zip.
.
---
© J Cosmo Newbery 2014
---
Print this post

20 comments:

  1. So very sad...a mystery that may never be solved. Either way I hope the poor souls and their loved ones left behind rest in peace.

    ReplyDelete
  2. no one here gets out alive....that's a fact. -I loved their pearls swing as they walk...haha

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope it was quick. A thoughtful piece - but I suspect that the pap in economy was offensive (and am glad you didn't call it food).

    ReplyDelete
  4. The ending captures the horror of it all .The pearls, cutlery, artificial class barriers that we construct for ourselves in society do not mean anything ultimately ..everyone suffers the same fate in the end .Silence Zip. Good poem.We may never know the truth of what happened.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pondering the 'why' will haunt people for a long time.

      Delete
  5. Things haven't changed much since the Titanic in terms of seating arrangements..at least on a boat you have some kind of chance..the plummet of this good night must have been horrific..the details really do bring it closer to home..

    ReplyDelete
  6. The closer a disaster occurs to home the more attached you feel to the horror of it. A few Australians were on the plane and anyone who flies can say this could have been me. It is sad that news brokers and politicians seem to be having a field day.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree with Robin. I'm sick of watching the twenty-four seven news coverage about this horrific tragedy. They are using it to fill up air time and feed the rather sick curiosity of the public. Rest in peace, travelers. Great work on the poem!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You did a fantastic job with this week's words. At first I thought it was going to be about the Titanic. I was caught up in the story. Like the rest of the world, I feel for the families and friends of the souls on that plane. May each soul rest in peace and may the families and friends eventually find peace of mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. We want answers when tragedy strikes. Sometimes (maybe often), there aren't any...

    Whirling with Abraham

    ReplyDelete
  11. A mystery indeed.. and yes I would guess the destiny was the same in all classes... I so wonder what really happened...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Don't know why but I wasn't expecting that ending. I like the way you described what might have happened though, especially the soft inoffensive pap. The mystery goes on.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for this poem, detailing vast amounts of being and loss behind the zippered silence.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chilling. Interesting breakdown of class, and then showing how they were unified as one. And that in reality, none of that other stuff matters. Good poem.

    ReplyDelete
  15. We take so much for granted, especially safe passage. A commendable tribute to an ongoing mystery - one that taps into our deepest fears of loved ones vanishing without trace.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Am behind and trying to catch up. What strikes me most about your poem is that all that really separates those individuals is money and no amount of that could have altered the outcome. Will that realization alter anything? Doubt it. Your poem is richly detailed, which makes the ending even more thought provoking,

    Elizabeth

    ReplyDelete
  17. A much needed view to honor those who never had a chance~ I love your details and admire you going there-

    ReplyDelete
  18. 'Common to all of these
    Diverse peoples
    Is a shared destiny.'....nothing could be more ironical than that....haunting lines...

    ReplyDelete
  19. …I do believe some of the curiosity is the fact people desperately want a miracle, a happy ending. Quite reminiscent of the Titanic!

    ReplyDelete

You've come this far - thank you.
Take your time, look around,
There is lots to see.