Apportioning the blame
(from Erebus: a poem)
Blame it on pilot error
Blame it on their training, their mental set
Blame it on bad communication
on sunspots, turbulence, and the computers
Blame it on mistaken identity and on circumstance
Blame it on the weather, and on their eyes –
Blame it on the Wright Brothers, and on Richard Pearse
on McDonnell Douglas and General Electric
Blame it on Scott and Amundsen
on Hillary and Fuchs
Blame it on the ice
(above all, on the ice)
Blame it on the bottle
on Coca Cola and the koru
Blame it on the books, and on the stars –
Blame it on their parents
on the living, and on the dead
Blame it on the bosses, and on the workers
on the economy, the terms of trade
Blame it on Rob Muldoon, and on the Russians
on extraterrestrials, the Devil, and the Pope
Blame it on the bossa nova –
Blame it on pilot error.
Bill Sewell