Katie in the City

by Elizabeth Zelvin

like a dervish in the frenzied ecstasy

of being young and free

she whirls through our apartment

strews her stuff in all the rooms

leaves crumpled clothing on the floor

the way her dad did forty years ago

so recently ecloded from the chrysalis

she rises early every morning  

spreads bright wings and flies downtown

to a World Trade Tower of glittering steel and glass   

a vast office on the sixty-second floor, a job she loves

I ask, did they talk to you about safety?

just about fire drills, she says

I know you use the stairs if there's a fire

it's a lot of stairs, but I'm in good shape 

my heart clenches  

what's wrong with them?

have they forgotten 911?  

did they not mention she's at risk

and can't take fire drills as a joke the way kids do?

does no one warn the young

of all we learned so bitterly the hard way?

on 911, they told workers on the higher floors

you have a choice: go up or down

I say, if something happens, Katie, go down!

I will, Grandma, she says, I promise

I will not imagine towers crumbling  

glass splintering, black smoke rising

remember that terrible meaningless sacrifice

or turn to stone for fear of another

I will revel in her for today

this dancer who choreographs her unique glow  

into the pattern of lights that is Manhattan

combs out her hair each evening like a mermaid

thinks like an engineer, laughs like a child

this young woman no one has ever hurt

Elizabeth Zelvin's new book of poetry, The Old Lady Shows Her Mettle, is now available in paperback and Kindle editions, along with e-books of two previous collections, Gifts and Secrets and I Am the Daughter. Liz has also published seven novels and more than sixty short stories, including the Bruce Kohler Mysteries and the Mendoza Family Saga.

Elizabeth Zelvin  

The Bruce Kohler Mysteries

The Mendoza Family Saga

The Old Lady Shows Her Mettle poems (coming VERY soon)

https://elizabethzelvin.com