WARNING! THIS IS A GRAPHIC UGLY POEM ABOUT DEATH BY FIRE
Chicago Trolley Fire—1950
58 years ago, a trolley car,
called the “Green Hornet,”
—because of a
Track switch, unheeded,
at 62nd and State,
Was struck by a truck carrying gas.
Both vehicles exploded in a mass of fire.
The windows were barred for safety.
Amidst the heat and flames, passengers
Tried to get out the back door,
But it was jammed, and they jammed themselves
Against it.
In the morning, salvage workers found their bodies:
Those on the end
Burnt to skeletons,
Those in the middle, fused together,
Some so tightly that they still wore clothes,
Some still with faces, their mouths shaped
as though screaming..
I was 15, and 5 miles away. I saw no newspaper
Photos. The woman who worked for us,
And lived near the site, told us about it.
She said, two weeks later,
She could still hear the screams.
I can still hear them. You don't forget
Such things in a lifetime---even,
Presupposing--
That you want to.
