WATCHERS DOWN BELOW
By Ruth Daigon

mrs. lena goldman sweeps her restaurant sidewalk it's
closing time the girls are coming my customers dominic
cardiane wheeling his barrow stops to catch his breath
hears a big puff crashing glass reporter shepherd sees
smoke pouring from the asch building races through the park .

dr. winterbottom grabs his black bag on the run as patrolman
meehan spurs his horse past him to the burning building
everyone came running james cooper sees a bale of dress
goods fly out the window what is that someone mutters it's
those bastards Blank and Harris saving stock another bundle
sails out halfwaydown caught by wind bundle opens not a
bundle but the body of a girl thud dead

girls in summer dresses speeding down heights of 80 feet 62 thud
dead girls at windows framed in flames like vaudeville stars lit up
on theatre marquees girls in windows looking so alive then quiet heaps
of clothing on the ground they keep leaping one two three at a time

Excerpted from Payday at the Triangle. See our Behind The Scenes article this issue with Ruth!!! Payday at the Triangle by Ruth Daigon, ISBN:1-891298-10-0, Small Poetry Press, Select Poets Series.