Chicagoetry: I Was Watching Jim Miklaszewski

I WAS WATCHING JIM MIKLASZEWSKI

I was watching Jim Miklaszewski when the plane
hit the Pentagon. I did not yet know that my friend

Dan was killed. Rod would call
with that "news" the following day. Our hilarious, radical, knucklehead
high-school buddy had become Commander of Naval Intelligence

for the Middle East. Later on 9/11, on the
radio, I heard that the plane hit the Navy part of the building.
I went, to myself, "I didn't hear

that." When the Cole was bombed a year or two before, I was glad that
Dan was safe in the

Pentagon.

On, 9/12, I sent him an e-mail: "You OK?"
We hadn't been getting along so well

of late, and that made me more
worried.

Then, Rod
called . . .

I'm losing it right now . . . shit! . . .

(SHIT!) He was our
friend, and

we miss
him

a
lot . . .

-

J. J. Tindall is the Beachwood's poet-in-residence. He can reached at jjtindall@yahoo.com. Chicagoetry is an exclusive Beachwood collection-in-progress.