Less than a year before the World Trade Center fell, it was reported that birds were striking the towers in record numbers.  500 dead birds were collected between September 5 and November 8, 2000.  The floodlights on top of the towers were turned off in an effort to stop such accidental collisions.  Netting was hung in front of ground floor windows to catch errant fliers.  The Port Authority press release explaining all this said, “Light and glass are the twin hazards here.”

I fell 
into another bad nap
while watching the tape for the hundredth time

I slept enraged and sweating
with hard dust in my angry eyes
unable to understand
why all my mirrors and lamps were broken

There was a dream
And in the dream I had become a bird
Nothing special
Just a small brown bird
But I was one with the air
in the weak and fatal light
that leaked through the new space in the skyline
where the smoke was
taller
than the buildings ever were

And for a moment I moved the way the air moves
curving around and through the grieving smoke
where Nothing was shining
and Nothing reflected the way things were before the fall

There were so many of us there in the hole
that was left behind when the old dangers dropped away
We were just birds
and we merged ourselves with the grey cloud on a gust of wind
With the others I gave my name back to those left behind
and we were all gentle for that moment
we were anonymous and unafraid again

Then I woke up and resumed the new routine
creeping along
speaking in small words
living each day very slowly
staring at the news

Most nights now I only doze off very late
but when I do I find that most nights I dream if only briefly
of flying

Tony Brown, 47, is a poet, performer, musician, freelance writer, and consultant from Worcester, MA.  He spends as much time in NYC as he can, since it's been a personal touchstone for him since his first visits there in the early 70s.

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