What lure, detached pixels
floating, unpredicted
Midday midtown Manhattan
a burst underground
steampipe geyser,
an asbestos blizzard
blanketing surface & crevice,
thick as talc on a baby’s raw bottom
Breaking News all day
recaps, tumults, placations—
wrong-place-wrong-time pedestrians
fill yellow dumpsters
with clothes in sealed plastic bags,
maps of "hot zones" & cordoned-off streets,
experts claiming "safe trace levels"—
deadpan voices
hour by hour until late night
slides past Yankees extra innings,
winding down like the old Philco,
sitcom to news to Star Spangled Banner
to "Indian-head" test-pattern target
to lisping static lullaby
to blank screen