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The Tappan Zee is a Lovely Bridge to End it All
by Ken HarnischTastefully attired
He stepped out of his car and
Looked down into the Hudson River
Over the thin, insubstantial rail
Of the Tappan Zee Bridge
Whose flimsy stays have
Been inviting wayward truckers
And broken hearts
For so long now
You wonder when they will
Get the message and build a wall.
I imagine what he tried to,
Or could not, wondering if the despair
Was chemically induced
By a mind gone haywire
Or love and luck that had deserted
Him after only briefly checking in.
I imagine memories surging in his head
Like the blue-black waters
That ripped around the pilings
A hundred feet below
Oh, the Tappan Zee is a lovely
Bridge to end it all
Outside the city where the cacophony
Can displace one’s made up mind
And the shouts of the news crews
With their hefted cameras can rob
The wretched of the dignity
That life had cheated them
And Death would not allow them
Being as fickle as he is.
He left his car running and
His papers on the front seat
So he could be identified
Easily, thinking, I suppose,
That it would be gentler on
Those he left behind.
And I wonder, knowing which side
From which he hurled himself
Into the night,
And knowing how currents go
If he looked down at the Dobbs Ferry
Pier where he might have guessed
His sodden body would appear
The following day.
Perhaps not
Perhaps the only thought he ever had
Was the ironic one that his act
Would soon perpetuate and that is
The Tappan Zee is a lovely Bridge
To end it all 04/13/2008 Author's Note: After reading a NY Times article last week on the alarming number of people who've been using the Tappan Zee Bridge to commit suicide...a musing only.
Posted on 04/13/2008
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 04/13/08 at 01:58 PM Fascinating name for a bridge; almost too nice for such a reputation. Excellent poem aptly dealing with all points of the issue. Here in Ottawa at least, the News is no longer allowed to communicate suicides, especially the where and how for fear of pushing others troubled over the edge. |
| Posted by Kate Demeree on 04/17/08 at 01:07 PM As always you bring it all to life, even thoughts of death. It is almost as if you put each one of us there in that place and time....... Well Done! |
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