Seattle 4: Cranes
Seattle’s September skyline’s
all slow bright clouds,
tall working cranes,
with a sliver of Puget Sound.
By the Space Needle
the rock music museum's
undulating sheath so very
Gehry, signals fun for all.
The cranes I used to make
from Meccano seemed back
then to be strong-willed
assertions of the power to build.
But I’d run out of suitable
parts before my dreamed crane
came fully into being;
instead of steel cable
I had only string.
For lack of ballast
in the base, precarious
toppling forward to
collapse. Lifting
was about the last thing
you could ask of it.
Crane: long-necked bird
on stalks for legs, bending
that neck down for its bill to spear
what caught its eye shining
in the lake water.
My cranes: a fraught
family of weak-kneed brothers,
looking down on random
Meccano leftovers
for items they might hook
and lift and shift.
These over Seattle
sure look like they’re doing
heavy lifting, raising
that serrated skyline
into greater heights
and glassier glazing.
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