We watched the moon landing on a small tv –
black and white, of course – in a house built
the year before the First World War began,
when Britain’s was the richest, most powerful
empire the world had ever known, committing,
like a recidivist, seemingly endless
crimes against humanity in Africa
and South East Asia, its offences
in southern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands,
Australasia and the Americas
having already become history.
Not far from the house was the Mersey
and the Port of Liverpool (built on cotton),
at the Empire’s zenith the world’s busiest.
TVs in the States, of course, had been colour
since the 50s. The ‘60s – which ended
with Old Glory’s triumph in the Space Race
over the Soviet Empire – included
the assassination of a president,
a descendant of Irish immigrants,
and the lynching of three black men, descendants
of African slaves.
By David Selzer