I wrote this two years ago; some physical details on the ground are different now, but the soul of the poem is not. 9-11: 10th Anniversary It’s about what IS there; and it’s about what is NOT there. In New York City, two world class 110 story sky-scrappers are NOT there. What IS there is the empty space in the skyline where they used to stand. What IS there now is a feeble human attempt at a memorial for the innocents. What is NOT there are the 2753 human beings who perished at the World Trade Center on September 11. What IS there are two one-acre holes in the ground that used to hold up 220 vertical acres, 13 million square feet, of towers. What is NOT there is consensus about how on earth do we adequately and appropriately commemorate the catastrophe. In Washington D.C., what IS there is a rebuilt Pentagon with only token disfigurement left to mark the horrors of that day. What is NOT there are the souls of the 184 who died there. In Shanksville, PA, what IS there is a sleek new memorial for the 44 that died in a field. What is NOT there any longer is the ghoulish, 26-feet-deep scar left in the earth by the crash. On 9-11-01 what WAS there was a frenetic, desperate scramble of responders and equipment at all three sites. What was NOT there for three days afterward was, for the first time in American aviation history, no airplanes in the skies. What WAS there were images of a terrifying half-of-a-day in sunny September seared into our nation psyche. What is NOT there has been 3653 days since 9-11 that we have forgotten that tragic day. What IS there is the lingering, irresolvable absence of 2977 lost loved ones. What is NOT there are fathers & daughters, mothers & sons, husbands & wives, uncles & aunts, cousins & friends . . . . and, they will forever NOT be there. And now, what IS there, still, is debris from the awful destruction. But, . . . . what is NOT there is a willingness to forget. What IS there, still, is a decade-cultivated gauling grief that will not go away. But, . . . . what is NOT there is a surrender to despair. What IS there, still, is a mind-numbing incapacity to fathom how religious zealotry and hatred could yield such bitter, evil fruit. But, . . . . what is NOT there is utter capitulation to a knee-jerk resolution for vengeance. What IS there, still, is a record of physical damage and human misery carved, not in stone, but on the sinews of our hearts. But, . . . . what is NOT there is a sense of hopelessness and futility. What IS there, still, is deep haunting sorrow at the senselessness of the attacks. But, . . . . what is NOT there is despondency that grace will be insufficient in the end. What IS there, still, is the inevitably ineffectual question, “Why?” But, . . . . what is NOT there is a vain notion that God does not care. Then and now, it’s about what IS there; and it’s about what is NOT there. What is NOT there are buildings and people. What IS there – this year, next year, and forever years – is our remembrance. Remembrance of what is NOT there, IS what will always be here, in our hearts.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 14:20:45 +0000
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