On this day in 1957, Sputnik went up
and my sister Joan and I
and our father went up
and our father went up
to the roof of our apartment house
on Arden Street, and watched the sky.
I don't know what we thought we saw
in the October night amid the lights and white dust
but it wasn't the space race
with our rockets exploding on takeoff
and their monkeys in space capsules orbiting the earth.
Only later did we memorize the names
of the seven clean-cut Project Mercury
astronauts on the cover of Life.
Project Gemini. Rendezvous and dock.
Project Apollo. A soft landing on the moon.
Science in the form of technology
was about to deliver a knockout blow
was about to deliver a knockout blow
to the antiquated forces of culture,
and in Cambridge, England, they were
and in Cambridge, England, they were
preparing to have one hell of a brawl about it,
but we were just glad to be watchers of
the sky from our Manhattan roof top,
and we had our money down on the Yanks
to take game three from the Milwaukee Braves
in the World Series tomorrow night.
in the World Series tomorrow night.
— David Lehman