Once again 9/11. 9/11 the anniversary of Allende’s government being overthrown in Chile as part of a CIA planned coup. 9/11 the day the World Trade Center falls and Pentagon terrorist actions. And if the hundreds of engineers who say the buildings could not have gone down because of a fire are somehow “wrong”, and if the fact that two buildings were hit by two planes yet a third one mysteriously fell, point to it being an “inside job,” it remains a terrorist action. In any case the poem below still stands. It was written within days of the event. A couple of poem notes. Section 2. Ray’s Howl is a paraphrasing on a radio interview I heard the next day. Section 3. 911 I did not change the names f my friends and relatives. All this really happened.
news feeds
- 1. last rites
my ears are full
the building screeches
smoke and heat
my skin blisters
i’m going to die
windows open
i’m going to fly
dust rises
nothing but smoke
gray turning black
turning white
i am blind
i can see an opening
window frame and clouds
i’m going to fly
i’m going to die
i’m going to fly
wind in front and air
that my lungs can clutch
i’m going to fly
screams in back
and a wall of fire
i’m going to fly
i love my life
i’m going to fly
i love the sky
i’m going to fly
my god my dear sweet god
i’ll kiss your ground
i’m going to die
- ray’s howl
my niece she was so young
her eyes so bright shining
on a moonless night
kill them
kill them all
kill them
kill them all
she rode her bike
up and down those streets
not a job for a girl
i always said
she made me laugh
from the first day i saw her
soft hair toothless grin
smooth pink skin
so innocent my niece
so full of life
headstrong
to choose new york
over california
not a mean bone in her body
no hate in her soul
kill them kill them all
kill their families
decimate their memory
they have killed my niece
all of them
and you who would
point a finger of blame
at this nation
look at our stars
our flag waving broadly
the red is for blood
and you who would
talk of roosting chickens
and debts repaid
you who would say
we america brought this on
kill you too kill you
kill you all
no hate within her soul
no bitterness on her tongue
no blame she held no blame
kill them
kill them all
bomb their villages
wipe out their memory
let no one know they ever were
my niece so young
so sweet so kind
kill them kill you
kill them all
kill them kill you
kill you all
- 911
911 911
nana is in san francisco weeping
she can not find her eldest girl
who runs down wall street
stepping over dead bodies
tears washing concrete soot
from her dark round eyes
her lover jumps in front of her
wards off the explosion of glass
pointed at her model’s face
sleek smooth pecan brown
he is cut he is slashed
he bleeds as they run
and weep
as nana cries out in fear
in relief in praises when
she hears her daughter alive
amidst so many deaths
911 911
jaci cannot find her sister
she is having dreams
that turn colors
and leave mirages of touching
but the phone hasn’t rung
so she writes poems inside her fear
and we pray and we pray
louder and louder
but the phone stays silent
911 911
pamela puts her arms around a child she does not know
who sits in the office of a small new jersey school
my mother works in new york the child weeps
and i don’t know where
pamela doesn’t say it will be alright
she says we’ll find out baby
we’ll find out
911 911
it has only begun
a first salvo some say
scripture armageddon
vengeance is mine says the state
vengeance is ours say the newscasters
but the dead will still be dead
and the wounded forever scarred
and thousands of families
torn and crippled
and people keeping jumping
out of skyscraping windows
falling like stringless marionettes
to the dust covered ground below
i keep watching them fall
as if somehow being witness
will make it better
and the planes cutting through
concrete glass and iron
and the fire and the smoke
projected again and again
in an endless loop
the buildings melting to powder
the people covered in white
like an african death ritual
powdered skin and hair and cloth
eyes open and unblinking
911 911
emergency
world emergency
here
and here
and here
we are all terrified
we are all terrorized
we are all reduced
to rubble
needing to build again
911
911
911
- aftermath
checking in
i am safe
checking in
i am praying
checking in
i have faith
checking in
i am working
for a justice built
on food and equity
checking in
i am struggling
for a peace
built on land and family
checking in
checking in
i am seeking
a righteousness
built on humanity and sweat
and a future
built on love
and memory
devorah major
copyright © 2017