9/11 Clouds Comments
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clouds of angry concrete dust
born of rubble
born of ugliness
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MICHAEL WALKER- - Reply Part 2- - As so many of us did, drawn to the television set by reports of the first plane, I saw the second plane hit the tower as it happened. Watched every moment of that day, watched images over and over. Horrified, grieving, stunned... the anger didn't come for days.
Michael Walker Part Two- -The images became part of me as they did most people. The clouds, the sheets of paper, the people leaping to avoid burning to death... sometimes it feels like I've lived too long. Thank you for reading and sharing your response to that day.
A riveting memoir of September 11,2001. Tragic images of people jumping from high-rises to escape the heat, the white papers and debris that fell like a blizzard, and 'jet-fueled' hatred'. I read so many books on September 11 and they all told me something new about the mass murder, as this poem does.
Sixteen years have passed and I still remember the shock and horror of that day. I still feel that same raw sadness when anniversaries of 9/11 come round. Your powerful image of the descending office papers floating down and the last line bring home the enormity of that atrocious soulless act against humanity.
It doesn't feel like it happened 16 years ago- -feels more like three or four. I suspect that was how our parents felt about the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Both those days make us reel and feel vulnerable and mourn so deeply for people most of us never met and atrocity keeps on wearing a new face
Tremendous amount of thought and emotions put in this heart touching sad story, eloquently narrated in a great poem. An insightful write of a horrifying tragedy. Thanks for sharing Susan and do remain blessed.
Your comment - being that it comes from a heart that is so tender with love for his country, his world- -means an incredible lot to me, Chinedu
The biggest tragedy in my life that i ever lived, I have nothing to say about how cruel they are to kill people, they rupture all the things exist, life, building and a city but also they make something from small to biggest forms too...fears, division, hatred and psychological trauma...there is nothing for them to be proud to raise bad to be it greatest, and to supress all good things to nothing..my heart goes to all victims and all, all of us because no mentally good as human will never support this! .
I can hear such pain in your comment, Soul. I think all good people are hurt by these cruel senseless ugly acts of cruel senseless ugly people. We are all the battered weeping bleeding survivors of these...... but we survive and we mourn the victims and we go on to live the best kind of life that we know how. Thank you, Soul, for walking through life showing the good path.
So Soulfully And Powerfully Put! ! ! ! ! Very Heart Felt! ! ! ! ! Makes One Shudder With /From The Tragedy! ! ! ! ! Excellently Done! ! ! ! ! Thank You So Much For Sharing This! ! ! ! !
Rebecca, this was a painful one. I don't think I will ever forget the things I saw and the things I heard that day. I'm glad you found it effective.
The visual in this poem is perfect, the irony of worthless paper falling..unflawed....falling for some as confetti falls in a parade and so some danced with happiness while innocent ones fell and jumped hand in hand to their deaths as victims of an indestructible hatred. A very sad poem of reality so fitting to the world we find ourselves in. I'm glad you wrote this, it is a testimony of a wicked act of which the whole world should take note. But worthless paper survives
Oh! I am so glad you read this and so understood what I was trying to get across about those papers drifting down in one piece while people could not. Thank you Bill for being receptive. You just gave me great encouragement.
Wow. This was absolutely arresting. I did not catch the title before I began to read, so I was struck unprepared by the raw emotion. Susan, you wrote this from deep within your soul- I can feel the power in every line. Wow. I just keep going back to read those lines again, and your anguish is so palpable, it's like the pain and fear and anger of whole multitudes bottled up into quiet lines of words that lie there on the screen until their meaning explodes in the mind as the eyes trace out the message of each powerful image. And to offset it with the almost halcyonic flutter of falling papers. All I can say, Susan, is wow.
I am glad you didn't catch the title... you gave me huge insight into whether the imagery and the words could carry the meaning and the emotion of 9/11. Thank you so incredibly much for reading and commenting- -you opened some doors in my mind.
A poignant write that effectively depicts the scourge of terrorism. A very easy n natural flow of words to paint a ghastly picture of a terror incident that changed the world and shook humanity badly. A great poem that is very significant n relevant. A super 10.
Thank you for coming and reading this- -those sheets of paper floating gently down from the sky tore me up when I could see people leaping to their deaths through the midst of paper floating. I'm not ever going to forget seeing that and the horrible mockery and irony of that sight. Every country has their meeting with terror these days Every countryman and woman and child bears the weight of these images, these losses. Those people on earth who have hearts and souls like yours are the ones this world needs. Thank you for your supportive and encouraging remarks and for the 10, my friend.
Dec 7,1941 Aug 6,1945 and Sept,11,2001 Those are just a few of the dates seared into a mind of a generation, the atrocities of war and destruction that left there mark on entire group of people, these are events that people remember seeing and witnessing the day it happened, where they were and where they heard it. the words just brought back the imagery of that day that I remember seeing it from News reels, this written with fantastic imagery and expression, but the fact is this actually happened, this is artistic expression from the real horrors of life. Then from that destruction a billion scrolls of paper fall and fly, uncoordinated, unguided, just falling in zig zagging motions down gravities shoulders, there unburdened unconcerned with the horrors around them. That's imagery that brings back to many memories, but if you think about it, and not to take away from the tragedy or the meaning of it, what we in north America experienced was just one day of horror and 15 years of fear, whereas in places in parts of Africa and the Middle East its called a normal day. Still a great poem Susan, the last lines alone are enough to bring back those pictures on t.v.
There is no year since the dawn of time that has not had an atrocity. As science has advanced through the ages, the atrocities have gained in numbers of victims and the diameter of kill zones. There really is nothing new under the sun when it comes to hatred, greed, and killing but we cannot let that keep us from writing about the ones we saw and suffered from. They each are rather symbolic of all. I watched those events unfold and the collapse of those building as if imploding, and the images of people choosing to jump and falling for what seemed to be so long a time burned into my retinas and the sound they made as they hit the pavement below and those sheets of paper floating- -these things angered me in that instant of time as things have a habit of doing even though they do not make sense and have nothing to do with intelligence or amount of education. People react from the gut, from that seat of deep visceral horror.. May we someday never have any such event to write about. No such event anywhere in the world. To any people. For any reason. Thank you for getting caught up in this poem to the point of such writing such a wise and considered response to it.
The deep wound and the pictures of terror attack so vividly protrayed in this powerful poem. The last stanza is particularly meaningful- - how can it be that papers survive and people die that papers fly and people plummet Thank you Susan Williams for sharing wonderful write.
Thank you so much, Bharati, for reading and supporting this piece. It was an exceedingly painful write. But 9/11 comes every year and we remember a bit too well.
Oh, dear, I replied to this yesterday but today my reply has flown away. I hope it is having an excellent adventure wherever replies disappear to.... ;)
Hi Susan A wonderful poem from Susan after so many days. The pain still gnawing at your heart is manifest in your poem. It is true, the world history can be divided in two: BEFORE 9/11 and AFTER that. Yes! It is not that the US has been all through, peace-loving. But, as Theodora has written, No One will forget the day. It is not that the people killed in 9/11 were all innocent civilians. The army-men live a worse life and lose their lives equally badly. As has happened to 17 army-men in Kashmir today. Just because they are in Army, their death are not less harsh. I dream of an earth where there are no armies an d still, no violence. Where peace prevails! As Tagore wrote, Let my country (the entire world) awake to the heaven of freedom. Let us continue to burn the candles of hope. Let His will prevail, Who said 'love thy neighbour'! Thank you Susan for addressing this extremely serious issue, so seriously. The construction of the poem is justly conforming to its contents. Good! 10
hahahaha- I tried to post the same reply as I posted to Bharati above and PH said I couldn't post duplicate comments.... oh, game on PH :) .... Oh, dear, I replied to this yesterday but today my reply has flown away. I hope it is having an excellent adventure wherever replies disappear to.... ;)
we shall see who wins- PH or I- - hahahaha- I tried to post the same reply as I posted to Bharati above and PH said I couldn't post duplicate comments.... oh, game on PH :) .... Oh, dear, I replied to this yesterday but today my reply has flown away. I hope it is having an excellent adventure wherever replies disappear to.... ;) hahahaha- I tried to post the same reply as I posted to Bharati above and PH said I couldn't post duplicate comments.... oh, game on PH :) .... Oh, dear, I replied to this yesterday but today my reply has flown away. I hope it is having an excellent adventure wherever replies disappear to.... ;)
Susan, you write perfectly of a day that NO ONE here will ever forget...it is a permanent heart print. All of the devastation, all of the fear...all of the death....and yet amongst all of the death - and debris - papers do survive...but the people do not...the people trapped in the buildings - the people who jumped to their deaths-because they did not want to die burning up- -the people who had families-husbands, wives, children, all loves...that went to work on this day, never to see any of them again...oh, reading this makes my heart just ache for all of those who lost someone that day in New York...Washington DC and Pennsylvania. This country WILL NEVER be the same. Yesterday, in Manhatten - we had another explosion - one also earlier in the day- at the Jersey Shore....all of this just leaves us wondering as a country - what is next and when will all of this madness cease - when will all of these egregious, evil acts of violence come to an end. When will we get a firm grasp on the people, the groups, who have absolutely NO respect for human life? ? ? ? ?
I do not know if PH will print this reply- -I do not know if I can go to your site and read your poems. PH has frozen up my account and my ability to move between pages and go to my page [this time I went through address on an e-mail notifying me that there was a reader comment on my poem] nor can I go to Member Area or My Profile or post a new poem etc. I will copy this message and if it doesn't get posted I will then try to message it to you. I am beginning to wonder if I have been booted off PH- -it's been 4 or 5 days now that I have been unable to access this group in any meaningful way. So - - thank you for somehow managing to stop in and read this and comment. We Americans have been fortunate as far as undeclared attacks of war and terrorist acts when we compare our incidents to other countries. France has certainly been hit over and over lately, England has been battered a lot in the past, and so it goes in so many countries for so many reasons. The two things these acts have in common is cowardice and hatred. Bravery isn't measured by the ability to kill yourself it is measured by the ability to try to work out differences so that all can live in peace. Victims of these terrorists are all innocent of wrong-doing unless going to work is a sin in these evil people's eyes. The victims were innocent in that they weren't skulking in their neighborhoods trying to kill off the next stranger to cross their path. No, we will never be the same. We are now living in an era of ugly murderous useless creatures blowing up children, women, non-combatant men just like other countries. Who knows? Maybe this will bring our countries together in relationships that are caring, mutually supporting, and firm in its actions against evil in all its forms. In the meantime we will write to protest.. .
I do not know if PH will print this reply- -I do not know if I can go to your site and read your poems. PH has frozen up my account and my ability to move between pages and go to my page [this time I went through address on an e-mail notifying me that there was a reader comment on my poem] nor can I go to Member Area or My Profile or post a new poem etc. I will copy this message and if it doesn't get posted I will then try to message it to you. I am beginning to wonder if I have been booted off PH- -it's been 4 or 5 days now that I have been unable to access this group in any meaningful way. So - - thank you for somehow managing to stop in and read this and comment. We Americans have been fortunate as far as undeclared attacks of war and terrorist acts when we compare our incidents to other countries. France has certainly been hit over and over lately, England has been battered a lot in the past, and so it goes in so many countries for so many reasons. The two things these acts have in common is cowardice and hatred. Bravery isn't measured by the ability to kill yourself it is measured by the ability to try to work out differences so that all can live in peace. Victims of these terrorists are all innocent of wrong-doing unless going to work is a sin in these evil people's eyes. The victims were innocent in that they weren't skulking in their neighborhoods trying to kill off the next stranger to cross their path. No, we will never be the same. We are now living in an era of ugly murderous useless creatures whose joy is in bloodshed, the gorier the better. But maybe this will bind together the countries who are being attacked, maybe we peace loving nations can find a way to imprison the demons out there.
i see what you are speaking about - i had trouble clicking on your poems- had to keep clicking on a poem before it would even come up. Someone has made it difficult for us to click on to your poetry...and i do not believe it is PH. You need to see about this. I call it sabotage. Hope i am wrong.
Leaving an ineradicable stain of fear and horror, the black day comes and goes. But the innocent victims who lost their lives are in a world from which there is no come back.... and how they are sorely missed by their dear ones! We can only pray and hope that another Sept.11th of that sort won't be repeated anywhere in the world. Susan, you have taken your readers once again through that tragedy.... the paper floating gently down between the darkened clouds and the billowing smoke, the scattered heap of rubble, the wounded and panicky survivors, the mutilated and charred bodies....! What a terrific scene you have presented....! The apt choice of words to describe the horrendous scene makes the poem outstanding!
Valsa, thank you for reading this poem. I know it is nobody's idea of a read they want to do but you show you understand the need to remember those who lost their lives in those towers and in those airplanes and in the Pentagon- -indeed we need to remember all lives that are taken in the name of hatred.... to mourn the senseless brutality of hatred. Thank you for examining the poem deeply- -the choice of words made this a very difficult poem to write- I tried hard for impact and true descriptions without unnecessarily hurting the family and friends of those who died- -the task still makes me shudder but your comment makes me think I fulfilled the task I set before me. Thank you, Valsa, you are always encouraging and wise.
A very powerful write on an incident that shook the world. A pity that after so many years of it, we are still living in fear. Prayers. The concluding lines about paper butterflies are just fantastic. My small 10 like holding a candle to the sun. If I am not indulging, kindly see my poem Mumbai on a similar theme.
Thank you, Madathil, for your kind comment. I would be delighted to read your poem Mumbai
Wow! I have no words. Paper, - a symbol of new opportunity, fresh starts, renewal...Another magnificent work, Susan.
Thank you for commenting, Mj. That paper blown out of the towers made me double over in pain that day- -I wish that words could communicate my straws in the wind type of thoughts- -I know I resented that paper could survive but people could not.
That is a most amazing poem about 9/11, a terrible tragedy which affected us all. Many firefighters lost their lives in attempts to rescue the victims. The irony of the floating paper intensifies the horror of this event. We, your friends across the pond, keep this day in our hearts and your memorial is heart felt and entirely fitting. A very moving poem, Susie.
Thank you so much, Tom. I didn't know if the readers would feel the horror and anger I felt that day when I saw paper floating and those people falling. It hurt so bad. To know that you understood the feelings that propelled writing this tribute which in the end fixated on all those sheets of paper floating- -makes me breathe easier. We Americans have been comforted by all the people in the world who stood in shock and grief and pain beside us on that day and the days following. We Americans stand beside all nations who suffer loss from this evil hate that wants to take over the earth. Maybe if our nations stand together now with love and compassion for each other- - maybe that will defeat the haters.
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7/20/2025 12:56:18 PM # 1.0.0
Terrorists! ! ! Wickedness of mankind on earth! Only to destroy and kill. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.
Nothing can outdo people when it comes to wickedness- -except Satan