El Corrido De Stanley Kunitz

I saw Kent Johnson piloting
the first plane that slammed
into the Twin Towers,

he was waving his underwear
out the cockpit window with one hand
and a copy of Epigramititis

with the other hand,
his Arab co-pilot was desperately
trying to grab the book away from him.

Back in first class,
Carolyn Forche was willing
to join the Mile High Club

by having sex with Sandinistas,
in her window seat
Louise Gluck tried to imitate herself

while Stanley Kunitz
put on his parachute,
walked out on the wing and jumped.

Johnson kept yelling in Lorca Spanish
about his own lack of poetic skills.
Stanley landed and looked up at the fireball.