For the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, some poems written in the wake of that fate-filled day. The first three I wrote in the days immediately following and the last one after the death of Osama bin Laden.
How dare the sky be blue today
by Tess Baumberger
How dare the sky be blue today
instead of weeping red blood tears,
filling itself with purple clouds,
and thundering its grief
against keening heart of earth?
How dare the sun shine bright today
instead of hiding its yellow face,
vowing not to reveal rampant horror,
not to shine where it can no longer
warm the innocent dead?
How dare the mirror sea reflect traitor sun
instead of shrouding itself with black,
declaring a watery day of mourning?
How dare birds continue to sing?
How dare the spinning universe not pause?
How dare the world have beauty
instead of consonanting itself
with the so ugliness of now?
At least Manhattan had
the grace to anoint itself with ash.
How dare the sky be blue today
by Tess Baumberger
How dare the sky be blue today
instead of weeping red blood tears,
filling itself with purple clouds,
and thundering its grief
against keening heart of earth?
How dare the sun shine bright today
instead of hiding its yellow face,
vowing not to reveal rampant horror,
not to shine where it can no longer
warm the innocent dead?
How dare the mirror sea reflect traitor sun
instead of shrouding itself with black,
declaring a watery day of mourning?
How dare birds continue to sing?
How dare the spinning universe not pause?
How dare the world have beauty
instead of consonanting itself
with the so ugliness of now?
At least Manhattan had
the grace to anoint itself with ash.
Next comes the grief
by Tess Baumberger
Next comes the grief,
shock and anger having passed.
Now comes the wondering
how life will ever be again
in the heart-dragging absence
of everything it once was.
Familiar garments now are rent,
no new threads yet on the loom.
by Tess Baumberger
Next comes the grief,
shock and anger having passed.
Now comes the wondering
how life will ever be again
in the heart-dragging absence
of everything it once was.
Familiar garments now are rent,
no new threads yet on the loom.
The Death of American Innocence
by Tess Baumberger
(written in response to people saying that 9/11 marked the death of American innocence)
Innocence rarely dies at once.
It dies in every small seduction,
in every subsequent acquiescence.
American innocence did not die
in that bright flashing terrorist act,
it dwindled breath by breath,
in great and tiny acts of terror,
It died with every smallpox blanket sold to an Indian village,
with every arrogantly greed-wrested acre,
with every language and culture and religion annihilated,
with every body mutilated, with every treaty broken,
it died on the Trail of Tears.
It died with every African shackled
and torn from homeland, family,
with every auction block sale of humanity,
with every black woman raped by a white slave owner,
with every family torn asunder for profit.
It died in the Middle Passage.
It died with racist ideologies
created to justify such avarice.
It died in Jim Crow laws and filibusters,
in denying black people relief checks, social security,
labor unions and any way of combatting
generations of crushing poverty.
It died in voter suppression, redlining and sundown towns.
It died with every civil rights activist beaten or killed,
with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers
it died in Montgomery and Selma and Little Rock and Chicago.
It died with Roosevelt’s refusal to accept Jewish refugees
desperately fleeing the Nazis,
it died with every black man sent to the front lines
as cannon fodder.
it died in the internment camps on our own soil
and in two atomic weapons dropped upon Japan,
170,000 lives lost in two great flashing moments.
It died with every gay, lesbian, bisexual,
or transgendered person
beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation or identity.
It died with Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard.
It died at Stonewall.
It dies with every chemical weapon developed,
with every nuclear test, wherever it happens,
with every bomb or jail built instead of a school.
It dies at every supremacist rally and every single lynching,
with every black or brown body beaten or deprived of life
by white officers, or self- deputized assailants.
It dies with mass incarceration,
the continued sundering of families
and decimating of communities.
It dies with every racist or sexist
or homophobic or anti-Semitic joke,
media depiction and micro-aggression.
It dies with every bombed synagogue, mosque, temple,
with every black church burned,
with every abortion clinic targeted,
with every hate-filled word or deed.
It dies with every sweatshop built on a poorer country’s soil,
with every product bought, made by a political prisoner,
with every homeless person,
with every starving, despairing child.
Oh, innocence rarely dies at once.
Only delusion does.
by Tess Baumberger
(written in response to people saying that 9/11 marked the death of American innocence)
Innocence rarely dies at once.
It dies in every small seduction,
in every subsequent acquiescence.
American innocence did not die
in that bright flashing terrorist act,
it dwindled breath by breath,
in great and tiny acts of terror,
It died with every smallpox blanket sold to an Indian village,
with every arrogantly greed-wrested acre,
with every language and culture and religion annihilated,
with every body mutilated, with every treaty broken,
it died on the Trail of Tears.
It died with every African shackled
and torn from homeland, family,
with every auction block sale of humanity,
with every black woman raped by a white slave owner,
with every family torn asunder for profit.
It died in the Middle Passage.
It died with racist ideologies
created to justify such avarice.
It died in Jim Crow laws and filibusters,
in denying black people relief checks, social security,
labor unions and any way of combatting
generations of crushing poverty.
It died in voter suppression, redlining and sundown towns.
It died with every civil rights activist beaten or killed,
with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers
it died in Montgomery and Selma and Little Rock and Chicago.
It died with Roosevelt’s refusal to accept Jewish refugees
desperately fleeing the Nazis,
it died with every black man sent to the front lines
as cannon fodder.
it died in the internment camps on our own soil
and in two atomic weapons dropped upon Japan,
170,000 lives lost in two great flashing moments.
It died with every gay, lesbian, bisexual,
or transgendered person
beaten or killed because of their sexual orientation or identity.
It died with Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard.
It died at Stonewall.
It dies with every chemical weapon developed,
with every nuclear test, wherever it happens,
with every bomb or jail built instead of a school.
It dies at every supremacist rally and every single lynching,
with every black or brown body beaten or deprived of life
by white officers, or self- deputized assailants.
It dies with mass incarceration,
the continued sundering of families
and decimating of communities.
It dies with every racist or sexist
or homophobic or anti-Semitic joke,
media depiction and micro-aggression.
It dies with every bombed synagogue, mosque, temple,
with every black church burned,
with every abortion clinic targeted,
with every hate-filled word or deed.
It dies with every sweatshop built on a poorer country’s soil,
with every product bought, made by a political prisoner,
with every homeless person,
with every starving, despairing child.
Oh, innocence rarely dies at once.
Only delusion does.
May No One Dance for Joy on Learning You Have Died
by Tess Baumberger
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Luke 6: 27-28
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died,
As some did when those Twin Towers fell,
Crushing the lives of children, mothers, fathers
Instigating a cycle of endless retribution.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died,
Like some did in the streets after our soldiers
Shot the man who claimed credit for
That life-shattering, violence-birthing day.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died.
May they instead remember some good in you,
Forgive your minor limitations,
And mourn the places you have left.
And if you can only lead a life that mostly offers pain,
Still may no one celebrate your death.
Let them weep instead for potential gross-distorted,
For innocence devastated, for love denied, defiled.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died.
by Tess Baumberger
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” Luke 6: 27-28
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died,
As some did when those Twin Towers fell,
Crushing the lives of children, mothers, fathers
Instigating a cycle of endless retribution.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died,
Like some did in the streets after our soldiers
Shot the man who claimed credit for
That life-shattering, violence-birthing day.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died.
May they instead remember some good in you,
Forgive your minor limitations,
And mourn the places you have left.
And if you can only lead a life that mostly offers pain,
Still may no one celebrate your death.
Let them weep instead for potential gross-distorted,
For innocence devastated, for love denied, defiled.
May no one dance for joy on learning you have died.