Day 253

Today is 9/11. I couldn't stop at just one poem. 2 of these are inspired by the same moment. I was driving into Brooklyn for a candle light vigil on the first Friday after. I had a very emotional moment along the way. The others speak for themselves.

If you are sensitive to 9/11, please read with caution. Some of the phrases may not be easy to take.


Smoke Towers

I saw the smoke
As I rounded the corner.
My spirit caught
Inside my breath.
Suspended.

The grey consumed me
As I watched the plumes.
My world insignificant
On the side of the road.
Paralyzed.

We suffered through the aftermath,
As our world crumbled.
Our cozy existence
Lieing in pieces.
Shattered.



On The Belt

It caught me off guard
When I rounded the corner.
That stretch of the Belt
Would never be the same.
I had never even known
You could see them from there.

The plumes of smoke,
110 stories high,
Overtook the panorama.
Their arms billowing toward New Jersey.
A horrible, upside-down Tetris block.

I could not breath.
I could not think.
I sat on the shoulder
Sobbing uncontrollably.


Gone

We would never be the same.
All those people.
Dead.
All those people.
Petrified.
Putrified.
Solidified.
Smoldering.
Buried.
Gone. Forever.
We would be at war.
More people would die.
People like me.
People like them.
Soldiers.
Innocents.
Violence would be commonplace.
Hatred.
Anger.
Vengeance.
All those people.
All of those people.
Gone.
In a plume of smoke
Over New Jersey.


I Was Sleeping

I was sleeping when
The plane hit the first tower.
I was sleeping when
The plane hit the second tower.
I was sleeping when
The plane hit the Pentagon.
I was sleeping when
The plane was forced
Into the ground by a
Group of unassuming civilians.
They were not sleeping.
They will forever be at rest.