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Wednesday, September 19, 2001
The Sound of No Planes Flying
The sound of no planes flying is
We look up to see the silver wings and watch for
Instead the crumpled iron and steel lies
Amidst the debris of human life and those who
And wait now for the silver wings and the beautiful
-- K. Terry Carskaddan
Terrible Gestures
It has happened again.
-- Jeffrey Thomson
Sanctuary
Behind the cross
-- Melanie Taormina
Payment Due: 9/11/01
-- Charles Wilf
Gone
-- Judith R. Robinson
Ripples
Friday afternoon traffic, the news drones,
My sons and
The traffic inches
Homeless man,
-- Barbara Vaughn
Bring Back the Soaps
The beautiful blonde plunged
People are stabbed, burned, poisoned, shot
On every station
-- Carolyn Wilson
Our hearts lie shattered in pieces,
Hopes and prayers fill our cities,
For you may have brought down our buildings,
-- Kristin L. Julian
Healing
When pain softens into sensitivity
-- Nancy Kennedy
The Phoenix
The day our buildings dropped,
The heroes over Somerset
The air that fills that grievous gap,
The terror of the tragic blow,
Ascending from the dust and flames
Three hundred million hearts at once
Jay Suszynski
Falling
Rising
Silent twins, were they;
By night, they stood,
Through veins of wire,
Conceived in dreams,
Beneath the scattered rubble,
Unlike old, metallic gold,
Tears of men,
-- Ned Ramm
Somewhere Over Pittsburgh
Something happened Tuesday morning,
We may never really know
It was just another morning,
They were businessmen and mothers,
"Should I watch the movie, or just rest?"
Something happened Tuesday morning,
Someone shouted "They've got knives!"
Those who could, picked up the phone,
Was it really true?
"We need to do something now,
Something happened Tuesday morning,
Where did they get the courage just then?
There must have been a battle,
They didn't plan on being heroes,
So if your hero is some celebrity,
Something happened Tuesday morning,
For here's the rest of the story,
-- Ralph Dahma
Ground zero
Chaos everywhere
Innocence lost,
Images unchecked
The hands of our savior
Don't cry little one,
Death will not part us,
-- Patricia Gates
I am the "American Eagle" and
Give me time to repair my wing,
-- Catherine A. Cameron
No End
Unnecessary deaths and who's to blame?
-- Dawn McPherson
Two Twin Towers
Cathedrals looming against a bright September sky
There one minute, gone the next,
Two Twin Towers
A call for unity, a call for arms
-- Mary Ann Hobson
September 11, 2001
Psalm 11, v.2-3:
A 747 slides into o a great glass tower, then another plane slices tower number two.
A group of young firefighters, ghostly in their coats of ash and dust,
The backdrop of smoke and crushed cement rises higher
-- Barbara Crooker
deafening our ears.
birds or anything that soars and hums or roars.
tangled and twisted.
used to hear the sound, look up, expectantly
birds ... and only hear the sound of no planes flying.
As the planes slammed
into the silver towers
and the smoke wept out
like solder, bannered
in the wind, as the steel
got weak in the knees,
a man and a woman --
strangers, friends, perhaps
lovers, does it matter --
came together in the torn
burning, in the trembling
and clamor of glass.
They held hands, each
small comfort to the other,
and stepped into the air.
They held hands
as they fell, a gesture
that leaves me no peace.
It has happened again,
this terrible blessing of hope.
the wall is blue,
like a brilliant morning sky.
I want
to hide my spirit there,
to find, to know,
a place that's pure,
of safety, and perfect peace.
The faces here
are unfamiliar,
yet
in the clasping of hands
and eyes meeting eyes,
we are bound together.
Row after row,
on bended knees,
we sing,
"And lead us into light."
In the refrain
the vision comes:
arms stretched out
from beyond the clouds,
open,
wide and strong enough
to bind and carry and welcome all.
Brothers and sisters,
your loved ones did not fall --
they rose.
One piece of paper
drifting down land miles away
we sign the blank check
The day, so stunningly beautiful;
Sunlight pours golden silence
Over our emptiness
As nature mocks us, again.
Good words are invoked,
Hollow yet cherished as our
Illusions: for how else shall we
Bear the enormity of Gone.
Good deeds are performed
Virtuous ballast against
The tonnage of evil
That decimates us.
Humans fragile as flesh
Weep and weep but do not dissolve.
Bend and bend but do not break.
Together, we grasp at what remains.
my mind wanders.
What does 5,000 look like
half a stadium at a sold-out game? What would it be like,
knowing you were going to die?
How would you say goodbye?
If it were the USX Building,
would I run or stay?
a generation of children
coached,
taught
carpooled,
Now have a shadow on their lives.
uncomfortable,
unaccustomed to the panty hose
sliding down,
my feet hurt.
Did I say the right things
to the fourth graders
who demanded to know
why their teachers were crying?
Do the tears that don't fall
dry up,
or become an aquifer
somewhere in my soul?
in stocking cap, winter coat,
carefully dries a plastic bottle.
Images burned into retinas
leaping couples
smoldering buildings
Tuesday, pre and post.
From the top of the burning skyscraper.
It was a movie.
Today she is one of the old and the restless
On the Young and the Restless.
But don't die.
They recover quickly
Unless their contract is up.
Catch them on another channel.
Jumpers from New York's burning skyscrapers
Plummet
As watchers scream
We will not see them again,
But for brief seconds
They knew what it was
To fly.
tears fall from dust-covered eyes.
We all hold our loved ones closer,
as others are saying good-byes.
flowers line every block.
A strong and powerful reminder,
that not one will be forgot.
Our family and friends may be gone,
But for them we now stand stronger,
in us they will now live on.
And loneliness eases into solitude;
When longing deepen into memory
And despair evolves into depth;
When emptiness matures into potential
And fear becomes anticipation;
When fragments grow into dimensions
And crisis settles into experience.
Then ... perhaps then.
Brought down with plastic knives,
The daring of the deadly deed,
The unsuspecting lives ...
Who stopped another strike;
The firemen and the medics
Who toiled day and night.
The flags that fly half-mast;
As from the rubble heaven swells
With angels rising fast.
the after-tremor shock,
Have galvanized our pride and will
And made it strong as rock.
a super-spirit swirls:
The Phoenix flies with eagle's eyes,
That see around the world.
Will beat with pain and love;
American the beautiful
Will reign with hawks and doves.
With hand over mouth a gasp
Falling
Choosing his final movement
Falling
Helpless heroes with angel's wings
Falling
Our eyes to our children
Falling
Evil in the name of God
Curious eyes to a sky where only stars remain
Rising
Sleepless saviors ashen in anger
Rising
Walls of martyrs gone missing
Rising
Men in the name of God
Rising
A flag in the name of man.
-- Lori Rybka
September 11, 2001
born both in hope
and dreams of better days;
towering queens,
reigning side by side,
in a kingdom made of steel.
their starry sides,
beneath a gem-filled sky,
by day, to pierce the clouds,
and stretch the reach,
of all but boldest bird.
their life-blood flowed;
and beneath their massive feet,
with care was laid
a hard and secret heart,
in yellow bars of gold.
they died in screams
of flame and curling smoke;
and rising from the pyre,
a black and manmade cloud,
did dim with fear,
a cloudless autumn day.
man's golden treasure still,
in silent vigil kept,
while in between
was laid anew
a treasure far more dear.
these hearts of humankind,
in anguish came to rest;
muffled cries unheard by ears,
but not by hearts, of fellow souls, and God.
but sorrow bring,
the tears of God sow hope,
that from the ash and earth,
may someday bloom the fruit
of everlasting peace.
Somewhere over Pittsburgh.
Just exactly what transpired,
But this much is surely so:
A nation was inspired.
When from Newark they departed.
Then suddenly, without warning,
It seemed Armageddon started.
not soldiers in the sky.
Fathers, sons and brothers,
Just like you and I.
Seemed to by their biggest worry.
No one knew there'd be a test,
Or that this would be their moment of glory.
Somewhere over Pittsburgh.
The movie no longer mattered.
Their dreams, their plans, their lives,
In an instant could be shattered.
To say I love you, perhaps farewell.
But soon they learned they weren't alone;
The whole nation had entered Hell.
They've destroyed New York's Twin Towers?
And then right away they knew,
They had minutes, seconds -- not hours.
We need to act as one."
"Let's take a vote, let's figure out how,
But we know what must be done."
Somewhere over Pittsburgh.
Was it from family, from church, from school, from friends?
Whatever the reason, they acted like men,
And bravely stood up, as Americans.
But neither side would yield.
The plane began to rattle,
Then slammed into a field.
But what heroes ever do?
Now the rest of the world knows,
What Americans, united, can do.
Or the guy who can hit one out,
Look to the skies above the Steel City,
And remember what heroes are all about.
Somewhere over Pittsburgh.
And the reason these folks we espouse:
Somewhere over Pittsburgh, Tuesday morning,
These brave Americans saved the White House.
dust in the air
voices of despair,
Where are you?
at such great cost,
Fear turns to rage.
Please turn this page.
Grief and true sorrow
have become our tomorrow.
I love you ...
Cross my mind.
How could reality
be so unkind?
Pain clouds my eyes
smoke darkens the skies.
will cradle us all.
From the strongest of strong
to the smallest of small.
we will still go home.
Our souls are still steady,
our faith is still strong.
at least not for long.
The spirit of righteousness
is America's song.
I shed a tear with you today.
My wing has been wounded,
and my flight of freedom taken away!
dry my tears and heal some more.
But make no mistake
I, the American Eagle,
will again fly high and soar!
A continuous battle between good and bad.
Innocent lives taken and evil overcomes us.
Vowing to make them hurt the way we hurt.
To make them see what we see.
To make them feel what we feel.
For them to become a victim.
As we dream of world peace,
we fail to realize the game of retaliation has no end.
Within the shadow of Lady Liberty's ever-watchful eye.
Symbols of our nation's strength and prosperity
The hub of commerce and financial security.
A pile of rubble is all that is left.
Families of loved ones pray and wait
As countless souls become victims of hate.
Symbols of a new-found sense of vulnerability of fear
Too much, too fast, too devastating to bear.
Gone in a moment is the peace of our land
We pray for protection from God's loving hand.
A call to protect our nation from future harm.
Brothers and sister we have all become
United by terrorists, divided by none.
for lo, the wicked bend the bow,
they have fitted their arrow to the string
to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart
if the foundations are destroyed,
what can the righteous do?
A fireball blooms in the sky.
Thousands of ordinary people working in cubicles.
Thousands of ordinary people who never threw rocks or bottle bombs or grenades --
Blown out of windows, jumped from the fires in a terrible aerial ballet, crushed
to nothing beneath tons of girder and stone.
Who can watch these towers fall without doubting our foundations?
Ground zero: Rodin's Gates of Hell, twisted steel, concrete tossed chockablock,
cascades of debris, thousands of lives erased in a minute.
Hiroshima. Beirut. Nagasaki.
Beyond the worst disaster movie Hollywood could conjure.
The mayor says, Whatever the numbers, this will be more than we can bear.
make their way exhausted down the ruined streets. One shoe, with a silver buckle.
A snowstorm of resumes, faxes, timecards, worksheets. The river slides by,
pulling its load.
than the vanished buildings, the forever-altered skyline.
A small woman stands on a rocky island out in the harbor,
her arm raised, a lamp held high.
And the darkness is not complete.