This Poem was Submitted By: Laura Lee Scott On Date: 2002-09-11 15:09:06 . . . Click Here To Mail this Poem to a Friend!To Listen to Music While Reading this Poem, just Click Here!
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September 11 in Moscow, Idaho 2000 miles
three time zones
and a warm bed
away from Ground Zero
our alarm clock tolled
and the first Tower of People fell
amidst televised panamonium
scraping toast
annoyed by black flecks
snowing on my kitchen counter
i desensitized watching
a -inch screen convincingly
depict the surreal
a clip from a high-budget flick we’d critique
later
at a more convenient time
over cafe mochas
“this one went too far,” i’d declare
as if I know something–anything–about
realism in movies
out here, repetition sank denial
like a stone breaks surface water
replaying gratuitous violence and great ash
for those who’d been
caught in the shower
now glued, now late for work
repetition rippled
as some already out there,
unknowingly bought gas and
bottled juice and Lotto tickets
feeling lucky
dreaming of their millions
and where they’d rather be
repetition rippled
as the rest of us
huddled catatonic
in rooms stitched together
by chair-linked, chorused news
“Turn it up!” you shouted
as if volume equaled truth
repetition rippled
from those pixelated planes
carrying Innocence and Evil
a prop of steel and eggshell windows
revealing nothing
before shattered lives
snowed on city streets
like us, perhaps, some had eaten toast
reading news of far-off places
leaving a bit of crust
thinking of where they’d rather be
reaching for another sip
caught with their mouth full
perhaps some stood and watched
and thought of bad movies they’d shut off
a ripple-less denial pause before
getting back to work
eternally unaware how well giant stones
make nightmares of neighborhoods
no, the ground didn’t shake
in northern idaho
but our bodies did
as if systematically
echoing epic tragedy
from the inside out
remote controlled heartache
sets in more slowly than
a streetside view
of death
but once programmed
it washes us with slack-jawed grief
regarding those
we’ll never know
and unrestorable innocence
and toast we’ll never eat again
without thoughts of willing jumpers
once programmed
the ripple of that day
becomes a nation's fluid heartbeat
paused and then replayed
paused
and then replayed
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Copyright © September 2002 Laura Lee Scott
Additional Notes:
This is a work-in-progress, but, even so, I had to share my feelings before this day is over. I hope that whatever your life encompasses today--Sept. 11, 2002--you can know a sense of peace, strength, and hope.
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