Reflection (on the 20th anniversary of 9/11/01)

Never forget
Never forget the blood that was shed
Never forget the lives lost

In the rubble
The grieving widows and children
Lovers and
Grandparents and
Siblings and
Relatives and
Friends
Never forget the sound of screaming
Sirens and
The silence that comes in the face of cataclysm --
Frozen in disbelief and fear
Never forget the bodies that piled up
One after another
After
Another
First hundreds
Then thousands
Then only pieces to be identified
Later...
Never forget that this all happened before 
Today
How we toppled governments like dominoes
And put our puppets into play
Never forget the bombs that were dropped
Some Where
Over There
Decimating whole buildings
Whole blocks
Whole cities 
Without a thought
Never forget that
"Legitimate Target
has sixteen letters
and one
long 
abominable
space 
between 
two 
dehumanizing
words."*

What is a life compared to an agenda?

Never forget
So you can remember
That war never brings peace
That blood shed
Never brings back the dead
That a life lost is a life lost --
No more than any other...

Never forget.

*from "The Pedagogy of Conflict" by Padraig O Tuama from his book Sorry for Your Troubles

First Day

 How do you say "I missed you" to a total stranger?

For over a year we have 

avoided one another's gaze

As if meeting eyes could somehow pose a risk 

of spreading viral particles

that could infect, poison, or kill us and

 No one 

would be the wiser.

Our faces have been halfway hidden

behind pieces of fabric -- 

decorated with patterns and vibrant colors 

to replace the missing blooms

 beneath --

All of us a patchwork of protection 

from the unseen danger,

wearing our unspoken wish that we should all live

and not

one more

die.

And now, a day after the announcement was released,

I walk outside with my face barer 

than a newly born 

Being

And breathe in the warm, sweetly scented air

of honeysuckle

and promise and hope and

Freedom like the rush of an ocean breeze through open car windows

down a highway.

I can smell the sunshine on the pavement.

***

Unexpectedly, our eyes meet as we pass --

nothing now obstructing our view of the upturned corners of our lips

that silently speak the words:

"It is so good 

To see your face."

This poem commemorates the first day I went outside without wearing a mask in over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the announcement made by the CDC the day prior.