A Spectacular Nonsense.

I saw the lights ahead of me,
Exploding into, and then merging with
The sky, like fireworks.
What is this spectacular nonsense
That is holding up the traffic?
And then I knew.
The U-Turns told me so.
The hard-hatted men in red trucks
Showed me so.
Oh God, I said. Someone died,
Up ahead.
A limp white cloth covered a figure
On a stretcher.
The street came out to watch,
To see the gore and smashed up
Van with the Jaws still slicing through.
Yet all I could see
Was that stretcher, with that paramedic
Staring at the ground and trying so very hard
To imagine someplace else.