When America Touched Me Like That (in a patriotic way)

September 2001 – Park Plaza Hotel Boston

In Gallup
just ten years old then
July Fourth
stopped for gas
we happened on the parade
saw Indians dance

At twenty
pregnant in DC
Capitol
dome with flag
flying unfurled at sunset
made me cry

With my son
standing on “rude bridge”
looked toward
Concord where
they fired the shot heard, there and
’round the world

The mist cleared
my husband and I
holding hands
in the park
first saw the Golden Gate Bridge
felt the history!

A billboard
in Alabama
three days since
the attack
on twin towers in New York
“United We Stand”

(c) Gay Reiser Cannon *7.2.2011