HISTORY OF THE AIRPLANE

Aftermath

(Music: U.S. National Anthem at half speed)

And the Wright brothers said they thought they had invented
something that could make peace on earth (if the wrong
brothers didn't get hold of it) when their wonderful flying
machine took off at Kitty Hawk into the kingdom of birds
but the parliament of birds was freaked out by this man-
made bird and fled to heaven

And then the famous Spirit of Saint Louis took off eastward
and flew across the Big Pond with Lindy at the controls in his 
leather helmet and goggles hoping to sight the doves of peace 
but he did not Even though he circled the Versailles 

And then the famous Yankee Clipper took off in the opposite
direction and flew across the terrific Pacific but the pacific
doves were frightened by this strange amphibious bird and 
hid in the orient sky

And then the famous Flying Fortress took off bristling with
guns and testosterone to make the world safe for peace and 
capitalism but the birds of peace were nowhere to be found
before or after Hiroshima

And so then clever men built bigger and faster flying 
machines and these great man-made birds with jet plumage
flew higher than any real birds and seemed about to fly into
the sun and melt their wings and like Icarus crash to earth

And the Wright brothers were long forgotten in the high-
flying bombers that now began to visit their blessings on
various Third Worlds all the while claiming they were 
searching for doves of peace

And they kept flying and flying until they flew right into the
21st century and then one fine day a Third World struck back
and stormed the great planes and flew them straight into the
beating heart of Skyscraper America where there were no 
aviaries and no parliaments of doves and in blinding flash 
America became a part of the scorched earth of the world

And a wind of ashes blows across the land 
And for one long moment in eternity
There is chaos and despair 
And buried loves and voices
Cries and whispers 
Fill the air
Everywhere

de Lawrence Ferlinghetti---aparece en BLAST CRIES LAUGHTER.