My veins thunder
drowning out the dizzy
cacophony from the Shanghai streets.
The sun hangs still
a cornerstone in the sky.
High pitched chirps of young school-girls
fluttering past me
a colorful array of navy blue skirts
blood-red ties spilling from their
necks
heading towards the large commercial mall
nestled comfortably in between
my arms.
Businessmen in staunch, death-black suits
wither
weighted down by their suitcases
by their homemaker wife waiting at home
watching their husbands be swallowed up by light
and 12 hours later,
emerge from an abyss of shadows.
A mother’s voice rings out
scrambling to cut through the bedlam
to reach a bouncing child
drifting among
a current of pedestrians.
Abruptly,
a rumbling sounds underfoot
deep and whole
the earth moaning in agony.
Swallowing
shrill shrieks of surprise
from the schoolgirls’ blood rimmed mouths
bewildering grunts of astonishment
from towering death-clothed businessmen
the mother’s voice skipping like a record
from fear to frenzy laced
the child still wandering
floating above the sea.
Seconds staggered on by
thousands of furrowed faces raised to heaven.
A split second slammed like a guillotine
The sky exploded.
My body is shattered.
Chunks of me were blasted off
My skeleton gleaming like polished silver in the sun
Layers of me hunch against the sidewalks.
The schoolgirl’s red had burst like fireworks inside her
The businessmen’s black had ascending into wisps of putrid ashes
The mother lay silent,
Face smashing into the cement sidewalk
Her toddler left to wail on the edge.
