September
11, 2001-2003; we remember..
MOMENT OF SILENCE CUT SHORT BY THE SHRIEKING
Don't give us the glowing
skyline lights,
hum-hawed regrets,
visceral frights
of buildings
crumbling, tumbling,
smoking.
Spare us the scenes
of rescuers poking
in the debris of two smoldering towers.
No! Give us instead
what is rightfully ours--
give us the evidence,
bit by bit,
once you've had time
to examine it.
Give us your word.
Say "Here is his heart."
"Here is his shinbone."
"Here's one more part."
Let us go bury
our grief once again.
We, the survivors,
want naught
for the pain
but to touch
what's been mangled,
to tell it "Good-bye,"
to feel the connection,
to understand why.
Tissues. Muscles.
Kneecaps. Bone.
"Give us this day...."
We'll come to our own
conclusions.
Illusions must end!
--By Nancy L. Fierstien
September 11, 2003 A.D.
To read more Nancy go HERE and HERE.
________________________________
On September 11, 2001
Sue Littleton phoned-to come over
and see something on her television
Apparently a plane had crashed into a building
So i drove and watched and kept on watching
as the surreal spectacle was repeated ad infinitum
from every angle and every witness-
explosions,smoke,dust,wreckage
bodies jumping from buildings
no one seeing any perspective
even the commentators stuck for words
as the whole picture expanded
and the whole world watched on television
the demolition of Twin Towers
2
since then,eye have flown long distances
seen young men with rifles in airports
heard of wars upon imagined enemies
none of whose leaders get caught
and billions of dollars later
my TV still hungry for news
repeats the same old clips
that i saw nearly two years before
3.
now we have deficit bankruptcies
airlines make losses huge
flags fly on cars
we have too many wars
and the names of the dead number us
it is civilians who pay the cost
when terrorists and governments bomb
we are the bodies on television
we are the casualty lists and
they are ready to screen again
because we never learned a thing
nightmares do not make dreams
the only answer to wars
is peace.
©Copyright SEPTEMBER 11,2003, Thom the World Poet
Go read more Thom HERE and HERE!
That Morning
You called us that morning
I heard your incoming message
On our answering machine and I
Played it repeatedly
"Oh, Betty..."
You called us that morning
Like you'd called us before--
Even the night after The Election
(we hadn't voted for him
but you called as if we'd intended to)
You called twice that morning
Once at 8:45 and again at 9:30
Or thereabouts
My memory did not stamp a time code
But my heart remembers the sound of your voice
You called us to tell us to turn on our tv
You called to tell us our world had changed
You called to express what you couldn't word
You called because you loved us then
Many terrible things have happened since that morning
When anything terrible happens anymore
I always check our answering machine
That morning your message stayed with us
Long after the tape stopped
-- © September 11, 2003 B. Elders
Once we lived in hope
The possibility of all we yearned for
Drew us from the past to the future
With silent cords
Velvet tension
Until our tethers snapped
One by one
The very fabric of sanity frayed
And desperately we grabbed at one another
We, too, straw
Until we could no longer face waking
Or each other
Or the impotence of our own power
Under such stress
Power defined absolutely by its finiteness
We are never always enough
I am no longer sufficient
Having been spoon fed god-less illusions of our own significance
Having fallen under the intoxicating sway of our autonomy
Delusion is its own self-perpetuating drug
Until confronted with repeated evidence of our absolute mortality
Birth and death, death and birth
Proof of nothing more
Only hope
Illusion
Until we can no longer face the weight of our own existence
Without hope
Autonomy
Mingled with myths
Formulated with fables
Sweetened with sugar plums
Free will
Punctuating our calendars annually with Santa Claus
And--occasionally, the tooth fairy
How could one truly know God by knowing ourselves
What vanity
A stamp is merely an image of something
But does not possess its nature
We too are stamps
Having another's nature
Making many choices
Ignoring the consequences
Blind guides
Get richer leading the blind
Brood of vipers
We trusted their insight to enlighten us
Spawn of serpents
We trusted the knowledgeable to lead us to truth
Where is the real beginning of wisdom
Wherein does truth really lie
It cannot be shared
It cannot be given away
Wisdom is a rumor
Hearsay--not admissible in court
What is truth anyway
How we creatures do exalt ourselves
As if we had ever really made anything without something first
Who creates in a vacuum anyway
Who or what provided those works necessary to change one form into another
Nothing into something, something into nothing
Who gives a rat's ass about thermodynamics
Just give me the strength to get through a single night
A reason to get up
I cannot light a match in a vacuum without first a match
I cannot forgive idiots
In the relentless pursuit of wisdom all have become fools
And a constant spray of sunshine up my skirt has only succeeded in
Chafing my private thoughts
I have peered behind the curtain of such device
And around the bulging shelves of higher education
But for all our learning
You still can not tell me what initialized the big bang
And why humans have to sleep at all
All it takes is one small child to teach us that all is vanity
Grasping at wind
We are content to serve creature rather than creator
We are even more content to serve ourselves
Evolution is but the preferred anthem of humanism
And humanism is only all of this
Without God
So who lit the match
This is what we have come to
Exalting lunacy
And free will
We were given the choice
But never permitted to choose the consequences
Power is finite
We are not self-sufficient
And nothing was ever free
--Copyright ©August 27, 2003 B. Elders
WHEN EVEN THE HEALERS ARE HURTING
their children all swallowed by war-- Copyright © THOM The World Poet, AUGUST 8,2003
and bitterness in dark shadows
and crying in hidden rooms
and harmonies lie,forgotten
while despair settles in for awhile
and joy is a distant memory
it is hard to even smile
Light sleeps,deep as water
Moon watches-silent,far
We still read constellations
but will not wish upon these stars
Mars is close to moon now
Each day a fire heat
We want to stay cool calm but
these are fiery streets
Every healer needs to be healed
Every body has their needs.
Even water evaporates
when sun applies the heat.
Go read more Thom HERE and HERE!
WHY WE NEED THE MILITARY
1.To blow our money into bombs
2.To kill people like us
3.To stifle all dissent
3.To abuse young men in training
4.To institutionalise stupidities
5.To repeat failures
6.To make lies about history
7.To foster corrupt corporate contracts
8.To fill cemeteries
9.To ritualise despair and aggression
10.Because we refuse to change
-- Copyright © THOM The World Poet, AUGUST 10,2003
Go read more Thom HERE and HERE!
WE ALL HAVE PLENTY, REALLY
When insufficient funds
inspire worry,
this fact you can
rely upon, my friend --
even when you truly
hit rock's bottom,
you still will have
eternity to spend.
--Copyright © Nancy L Fierstien, 4-19-03
Go read more Nancy HERE and HERE
On
a strange and eerie day
the poet saw through the words –
words meant
words said
words heard
words
curled in precious stone
as though
truths
distilled
for posterity --
but on that
day
he lay his
burden down
and walked
a naked man
toward the light
on the water
of his life
and entered
without a
single word.
--Copyright © 2003 Marceline Lasater
Go read more Marceline HERE !
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