Broadway at night, from a photo by Alyce Wilson

A Final Slow-Down

by Gerald Zipper

Bug-bellied busses inching down Broadway
engines coughing emphysemic debris
mothers rolling carriages in distraction
stepping blindly into weightless air
no one knew the earth's spin was braking
I knew
everything rolling to a half
machines wheezing their final throes
creatures staring in sightless misapprehension
the moment was here
I could now rest
riveters layed down their guns
dredgers pulled into shore
waiters ceased wild dashes into kitchen bedlam
elevators slid to a shuddering halt
the world becalmed in dreamy suspension
I knew it was true
it was my dream
my ending.