9 11 Anniversary

A Trilogy, Written in the Wake of 9/11 — I. A Mother Weeps With hungry eyes and fearful glance Her child squats with dirty feet in crumbling doorways - Wonders why angry men Burn flags, feed each other bullets. Nurtured in ignorance, fed on hate He plays at dangerous games And shouts, “I am a man!” No food today, and yet His belly’s rounded, full of faith And dynamite. A mother weeps…

I was sitting at work and didn’t even take the news seriously at first — I was sitting at my desk at my publishing job the morning of 9/11/01 when a coworker came in and said a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I didn’t even think anything of it. I pictured a small two-seater plane whose pilot had gotten confused or had a…

As we shed tears for those who died in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, we shouldn’t forget those who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. — Americans memorialized 9-11 on Sunday with tearful tributes and calls to “never forget,” 21 years following the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil. But what followed was perhaps worse: a twenty-year ‘War on Terror’ initiated by the George W. Bush administration that involved targeted assassinations, torture, spying on Americans and…

Poetry written in the wake of 9/11 — The hunter turns loose the dogs Takes aim Drunk with hubris, shit-faced with unholy zeal He has mistaken the dove of peace For a clay pigeon She falls at his feet, bloodied Broken heart still beating strong His triumphant, primal cry Rends the air With obscene lust He pokes the tattered body Plucks one dirty feather at a time May God forgive…

I was five years old when 9/11 happened. But I still had a childhood. Sometimes it’s hard not to feel mournful for the kids growing up today. Sometimes it’s easy to understand why fewer and fewer of us are having children in this disease-ridden world. This is a difficult time…