Thinking about 9/11

Life After Poetry – 9/11/04

In this time, in this decisive moment
We summon all our strength
Call upon every resource, invite every image
Each dusty memory—if only
To know our power

A crisis of the spirit—our need for each other
Our need for ourselves,We turn—not for long—
Time hardly exists in that first breath of stillness. . .
A primitive beginning and yet more would come—
Much more. . .

Dancing the insane dance—shifting shadows cast
by a fire explosion— so immediate and clear
In high focus, all feelings sharpen—
both love and fear
acted out.

Parts of our lives reassemble—
gather in new arrangements—pieces
Broken images
spoken in language after ancient language,
Long pauses between questions;
Where is there a true place? among all this?
We only begin to utter what we have now come to believe.