Had a belly full
of boy
and a brother
at the Pentagon
the day the towers
(skyhopeworld)
came
tum
bling
down.
We
were among those
who watched in
terrible technicolor
waiting
waiting
waiting
to see what
would happen next
gasping without breath
when the second one
crumbled
disappeared before our
very eyes
waiting
for the phone to ring
watching the screen
unable to move as
ash rained down over
these two
erased places
my son
will never
see.
Where were you on September 11, 2001? Please share with me, here.
This was powerful and excellent. Below is where I was on 9/11. I wrote it at least six years ago, and it probably needs trimming, but you asked for it.
Moskowitz
The Twin Towers Fell
I couldn’t leave the woman
I was with on September 10th.
it was a life I had known
and she needed me
but I stopped needing her
and I had left long before this
only my things
were all still there
and my soul was crying
to be released
from the stranglehold
of guilt and obligation.
We shared a bed but
were not intimate,
we shared a life
but were disconnected,
we shared a house
but were not married.
She survived a lifetime of
sexual abuse and trauma
and those scars carved
unbridgeable chasms
in our life together
and after seven years
it had all become passionless
and dutiful
and I was cheating on her
which only added to my guilt
which fueled my obligation
and though I could see the doorway
to my liberation
I was paralyzed
by guilt and obligation.
I knew I was leaving
I just didn’t know when.
It was a puzzle
with an obvious painful solution
but I vacillated
and kept juggling
just to see
what would happen
as my heart and soul
went places that most people
know better than to explore.
The next morning
an airplane flew into
the World Trade Center.
A tragic accident, I thought,
then a second plane
then a third at the Pentagon
then a fourth destined
for the White House
and the world immediately seemed
rocked from its axis
hurtling, upside down
chaotic twisted disorder.
Shock and suspicion and confusion
and the terrorists could be anywhere
everywhere
and life became threatened
and nothing was certain
and all the pieces in my
puzzle of a life
were shaken violently.
I saw the quick and unforgivable
nature of reality
and my guilt and obligation
seemed small and pointless,
and the motorcycle I was riding
in the fast lane
after midnight
with its lights off
pulled over.
I knew I wanted something else
and I knew I wouldn’t find it
in the places I used to hang
so I decided to make a change
and then the twin towers fell
and one month to the day
after September 11th
I left her
for the woman
who was to become my wife.
Mosk, this is powerful, and personal. Really, really well done.
Here was a little something I wrote last Sept:
Rewind
(Poem I wrote for Sept. 11, 2011)
I will not watch the news today,
To tell me what I cannot say.
I saw those planes, one at a time,
The buildings crumbled, lives inside.
Why was my TV on that day?
My mind recorded, so I play those
Pictures over once again.
I can’t explain it to my kids.
All these years and fighting still,
The sadness will go on, until I
Try to see the good still left.
The towers fell. God still has breath.
Oh, Heather. THIS:
The towers fell. God still has breath.
WOW. Amazing. I love this.
The original Wes Magee poem was about the death of JFK as I’m sure you know…
Where were you?
… after Wes Magee
Maria was dicing carrots
nutters were flying to hell
the smell of tar
polluted the bar
the day the towers fell
Cats playing with a dead mouse
hamburgers with relish as well
hands on heart and head
starting to count the dead
the day the towers fell
Half the world was sleeping
news was starting to swell
rattling cages
that had stood for ages
the day the towers fell
Elton cried and wrote
a witch cast a spell
bells ringing out
little boys shout
the day the towers fell
Bodies piling higher
panic and fear to tell
death and smoke
an unholy joke
the day the towers fell
I remember my location
and the phone´s ringing bell
when out of the blue
I suddenly knew
the day the towers fell
Iain
Iain, I love this. The rhyme scheme and the refrain line add so much to the building panic, and uncertainly. Perfect.
Thanks! it is an exact re-write of the original so we need to thank Wes for that but It was the right poem to use to do this. Thanks again
“Had a belly full of boy” and “two erased places” … Love those.
Thank you so much. What about you? Where were you that day? Quite a bit younger than me…did it hit you, emotionally?
I was at work. It was kind of surreal but I wouldn’t say it hit me emotionally. I watched other people getting upset, wondered if we’d be sent home from work, wandered around the building to see if I could find out more about what was going on. That’s really all I remember.
My sweetie and I were set to fly, back to California from a visit with family in Madison & Milwaukee, one of whom was the head of the bond department for the Wisconsin State Investment Board, and because of that, was high up in a room of the Marriott in the first tower hit. We did not know for hours that he had been in a meeting on the first floor, saw the second hit, got covered in dust from the first fall, and somehow ended up in New Jersey. We stayed put, remembering the eerie silence of no planes, saw Bush senior, who got plopped on our property along with several Secret Service types, and who, amazingly enough, flew out to his paid lecture in Boston the next day, via National Guard. What I most recall is how blessed we were to be with family at that time, with friends of forever, and how lucky we were to have a great cat sitter in the desert.
Dan, I think we all felt that gratitude, thankfulness in being together, safe. Thanks so much for sharing your story here.
This is amazing, De! I love the long-ness of it, mirroring the shape of a building and I love belly full of boy!! I was working at “Big Top Deli,” when this happened, serving sandwiches of “Boar’s Head,” meat and cheeses.
So, I wanted to add that I felt a little anxious/scared about it at the time of the event but as years have passed the footage that I’ve seen of the people involved and the actual event has brought me to a place of feeling a deep sadness for the whole thing.
Thank you, Hannah. And for sharing your story. Last year, when so much footage and so many specials were run for the 10-year anniversary, for some reason I tortured myself by watching a lot of it. I wept deep cleansing breaths, the kind that make your chest ragged, even after all these years…for all we lost that day, for all that’s changed since, for my kids, and what the future holds…and in gratitude that all I love most are still here, tangible and whole.
Oh, De! Your heart-felt words send goosebumps across my skin. You truly are a compassionate and beautifully-caring soul. Thank you for your heart in this sometimes sad and scary world. <3
I was driving a carpool, my three kids, two neighbor kids, and I heard something on the radio chaos of the morning. Puzzled, I turned on NPR, thinking they will have something responsible on. I made the kids shut up, and listened, understanding the gravity immediately, but not realizing it was on purpose yet. Dropped the kids at school, and drove to work, transfixed. When I finally got out of the car, I felt in a dream. Went up to the office and found everyone who’d arrived so far in the conference room with a small TV, trying to find out what was going on. We sat there for a long time, and finally, our boss decided we needed to try and get some work done. We all went to our desks and turned on CNN online. (and that was the pattern for at least the next week, glued to our media sources.) No one was getting any work done. The courts had been closed. All flights had been grounded. I saw fighter jets fly over the skyscrapers of downtown Phoenix, where I worked. It was surreal. We left the office at noon. I went and picked up my kids from school. I didn’t want to let go of them for one minute–we huddled on the couch while I watched the news obsessively. Still feels surreal to think about it now.
Diana, I think “surreal” truly is the most perfect word for it. That second plane hitting, most of all, because it changed everything, in an instant. I was so thankful at the time that my world was somewhat small…by first baby still safe inside me. I remember wishing he could stay there for just a little while longer.