Thursday, September 10, 2015

9/11 Poetry

On September 11, 2001, I woke up to a phone call. It was my mom, and she was crying. She said that there were some horrible things going on, and that I needed to turn on the news. Her emotions were warranted due to what she had seen on the morning news and what she had heard on the radio.
 
There was another layer to the sadness and fear I heard in her voice. She knew that one of my dearest friends was due to fly into N.Y.C. that morning. He'd been my college boyfriend and was a very close friend. Immediately waking and turning on the news, I was overwhelmed and nauseated by the terrors taking place. The thought of something happening to Brian shook me to the core. 
 
I watched as the news caught people jumping from windows in the towers. I watched in horror as the first tower fell, followed by the second. I called my friend's family to see if they had any news on his flight. For much of the day, they didn't. In retrospect, I can't recall when we found out he was safe. It was an abysmal day.
 
Several days after 9/11/01, I wrote the poem below called "Saved". On 9/11/02, I wrote a second poem that I never gave a title. Poetry used to be my favorite form of written expression. While it doesn't fit with my normal blog posts, I wanted to get back in touch with the emotions that day inspired. In turn, I hope it does the same for those of you who read it.

I am proud to be an American! I will always be thankful to all the police officers, firemen/women, paramedics, etc. who raced into a nightmare to save lives. And I am thankful for all those in the military who have served to protect our country; then, now and ALWAYS.
 
SAVED
There is a fire here
I feel it burning, burning
My skin is melting
My smile is fading
I cannot see for the flames
I cannot breathe for the fumes
Where to go, where to go
There is no escape
Our lives entwined
We are all lost
In this burning, burning
Buildings falling
Nowhere to go
No one to hear
There is no light left
Only dark, only ashes
And we pass onto the Earth
From whence we came
Died out of hatred
Only now to be loved
God's ultimate love
God's divine healing
Wraps us all in faith
We are safe
We are comforted
It's those we left
Who now are lost
They look frantically
For faces and bodies
That are gone
But we are here
Shouting to them
Singing to them
That life is better
Here with God
And that is how
The Earth will be healed
If we all just turn
Back to God
And find ourselves
Saved
 


**There was a documentary about 9/11 made for the year anniversary, and the poem below is in part my reaction to it. There was footage of the lobby and entrance (not sure how that was), and you kept hearing these huge thuds, which turned out to be the sounds of bodies that had jumped from windows. The documentary played a part in some of the images I describe in the poem below.
 
UNTITLED
There are bodies falling
Falling...falling
Through the glass
Into history
Their limbs crash
Spreading like debris
Across the pavement
Across our memories
The sound like a bomb
Penetrates our ears
Echoes in our heads
The irreversible sound
Of hatred and anger
A so-called loyalty to God
That not even God understands
It is the continuation
Of Eden's sin
Our own ignorance
The thought that vengeance
Is somehow more important
And more powerful
Than love
There are bodies falling
Falling... falling
Their blood sprays my eyes
And I can no longer see
The world as it was
Forever tainted
With their crimson remains
History now colored
In shadows of red
And we are left hating
Those whose hate
Changed our lives
A cycle of emotion
God wishes us to defy
 
 
 
 


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