talkin' kitty hawk

i first went to kitty hawk with my girlfriend of three weeks
we stopped for gas and coffee on our way to the florida keys
in the shadow of a monument hailing the brothers wright
she said "you know they weren't really the first men to take flight,
they definitely were not the first men to take flight"

(it was a frenchman she said
some kind of bat-winged monoplane)

i went back to kitty hawk with my girlfriend of three months
our best friends said dare county has some lovely waterfronts
i paid a dollar to emboss a penny with the aircraft of their day
she said "they did it in Kill Devil Hills about four miles away,
yes in the sand dunes at Kill Devil Hills about four miles away."

(she was right, but still
kind of ruined the moment
made me feel like i wasted one dollar and one cent)

i went one more time to kitty hawk with my wife of three years
we stopped at argyle's restaurant and had a couple beers
with a life-size steel propeller suspended ten feet overhead
she said "you know wilbur was..." and then the damn thing fell and killed her dead,
that steel propeller cut her off mid-sentence and she was dead.

(ruined a perfectly good meal, that did
not just for me, but for everyone
shut down the piano bar for the rest of the night)

i returned to kitty hawk with my new wife of three weeks
we picknicked in the local park and scoured for antiques
a jumbo jet on its descent buzzed its way to Raleigh-Durham
she said "isn't it amazing to be in the place it all began?"
and i said, "yes, it's sure amazing to be in the place it all began."

end.

talkin' kitty hawk©2007 by frank caravella