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Question: More on sanity!. What do you think!?
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MOMENTARY LAPSE
I was the first one on the scene,
scrambling down the embankment
I think I wanted to help the people
inside the upturned bus!.
The scene was pure hell,
carnage in twisted metal and flesh!.
The sights were indescribable
to small children!.
The sounds were even worse!.
I could not tell motor whine
from the moans of the dying!.
More people began clambering
down from the road!.
The crowd parted when the police arrived!.
The paramedics were a few minutes behind them!.
The news crews were a few minutes behind them!.
I’d been in the ravine for ten minutes!.
I’d helped no one!. All I could do was stand
…and stare!. The police brushed me aside
and began pulling away at the wreckage!.
Channel 5 was there, and that hottie, Grace Grant,
As the camera panned the crowd, I wanted my tie
to be straight and my look to be somber and respectful!.
I think that’s what I wanted, yet, as the lens crossed
my face…I smiled!.
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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I remember a famous photograph of the 1940's!. I think the photographer was Squeegee!. The scene was Coney Island!. A man had been rescued from the ocean and was stretched out on the sand, he may have drowned!. There was a very large crowd circled around his inert body!. All eyes were riveted on him, all faces tense with concern and anxiety!. All but one, an attractive young woman stared straight into the lens smiling radiantly!. And countless times I've seen on the scene TV news broadcasts in which the reporter is relating some sort of tragic event, and in the background people are jumping up and down, gleefully mugging for the camera!.
Living, as I do, in New York City, I have been on camera numerous times - either in the background or as the focus of attention!. I am pleased to say that I have never engaged in such inappropriate levity!. I've always succeeded in appearing to be the concerned citizen, oozing my natural pomposity and officiousness!.
At any rate, this vignette isn't all that much as a poem, but it's a great piece of writing!. And I think you've presented it in the right way!. Making it all artsy-fartsy would have been like smiling for the camera!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I would say your stand and stare, observer reaction and the media flock are "normal" in this situation and your reaction with the tie straightening is a nervous one rather than "abnormal'!. Andy Warhol's "15 minutes of fame" perhaps!. You have something to say about the immediate impact that no-one else can possibly understand or describe, because they all came later!. We would all hope to be heroes in a scenario like that but it takes a lot of courage to do so!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
This scene is true!? If so, the final stanza describes an instinctive human reaction!. We are primates; we have no choice!.!.!.
EDIT: Truth or fiction, it describes a truth (except in the case of the happy few with complete self control)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com