The History of the Airplane
A poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Added: 19 June 2005

And the Wright Brothers said they thought
They had invented something
That could bring peace on earth
If the wrong brothers didn’t get hold of it,
When their wonderful flying machine
Took off at Kitty Hawk
Into the kingdom of birds,
But the parliament of birds
Was freaked out by this man-made bird
And fled to heaven;

And then the famous Spirit of St. Louis
Took off eastward and flew across the Big Pond
With 'Lindy' at the controls
In his leather helmet and goggles
Hoping to sight the doves of peace
But he did not
Even though he circled Versailles;

And then the famous flying clipper took off
In the opposite direction
And flew across the terrific pacific
But the pacific doves were frighted
By this strange amphibious bird
And hid in the orient sky;
And then the famous flying fortress took off
Bristling with guns and testosterone
To make the world safe for peace and capitalism
But the birds of peace were nowhere to be found
Before or after Hiroshima;

And so then
Clever men
Built bigger and faster flying machines
And these great man-made birds
With jet plumage
Flew higher than any real birds
And seemed about to fly into the sun
And melt their wings
And like Icarus fall to earth.

And the Wright Brothers were long forgotten
In the high-flying bombers
That now began to visit their blessings
On various Third Worlds
All the while claiming
They were searching for the doves of peace;
And they kept flying
And flying and flying
Until they flew right into the 21st century;

And then one fine day
A third world struck back
And stormed the great planes
And flew them straight into
The beating heart of skyscraper America
Where there were no aviaries
Or parliaments of doves
And in a blinding flash
America became part
of the scorched earth
of the world;

And a wind of ashes
Blew across this land
And for one long moment in eternity
There was chaos and despair
And buried loves and voices
Cries and Whispers
Fill the air
Everywhere.