Thread: Watching the Towers Fall

I can bore you with talk
of women and children
but it is simple enough to say
human beings.

Human beings
run in gathering storms
of concrete dust
run from misting
of meat

Sudden fatal therapy
suffering dissonance
and there's nothing quite the same
as losing words

All of these
human beings
cut off quick in
Tourette syndrome punctuation
in a long-dead dialect.

Caught in the cloud
darker than Krubera Cave
lost out on the Silk Road
as bloated blue bodies
wash up on Indonesian shores.

These houses of truth
are now a house of lies
the almost-five thousand corpses
dangle their toes
out of shrapnel windows.

Pieces of me sweat away in
an instant of swaying black burqas
rocking on knees at a cemetery.

Beirut
nineteen-eighty two
I watch towers fall
and there has to be
a way to make the world relate.

This is a very chilling and dark read,

I can bore you with talk
of women and children
but it is simple enough to say
human beings.

Human beings
run in gathering storms
of concrete dust
run from misting
of meat -awesome line!

Sudden fatal therapy
suffering dissonance
and there's nothing quite the same
as losing words

All of these
human beings
cut off quick in
Tourette syndrome punctuation
in a long-dead dialect.

Caught in the cloud
darker than Krubera Cave
lost out on the Silk Road
as bloated blue bodies
wash up on Indonesian shores. Wonderful description.

These houses of truth
are now a house of lies
the almost-five thousand corpses
dangle their toes
out of shrapnel windows. another awesome image.

Pieces of me sweat away in
an instant of swaying black burqas
rocking on knees at a cemetery. powerful image and description.

Beirut
ninety-eighty two -shouldn't that be nineteen-eighty two?
I watch towers fall
and there has to be
a way to make the world relate.

I enjoyed this one ramatheson.

Oh yes, hah...I'll correct that. It was a typo. I'm glad you enjoyed parts of this piece, and it was nice of you to comment with such detail, pointing out specific parts.

Hello ramatheson, liked your piece. I have lived through the events of 9/11 and the 1993 bombing of the WTC as a New York City Firefighter. I was surprised to see your reference to the 1982 bombing of the Marine Corps Barracks in beirut lebanon. I had almost forgotten about that. I was in the Marine Corps when that happened. A buddy of mine who was there told me he got up early for breakfast that morning and that is why he wasn't killed. He was shot however, as there were snipers outside the gated area shooting anyone they could while they were trying to help the wounded. I think that was the first time I made an effort to find out more about this new thing (to me) called terrorism.

You have also seemed to connect with natural disasters and man’s inhumanity to man in general. Before 9/11 and some of the more recent natural disasters, I don’t think many people could relate to this writing. But that has changed and I sense your pain. I like it.

Joe

Thanks for the thoughtful post JoeMc.

I should put a disclaimer here: I am not taking any sides in any political issues with this piece. It's simply an examination of the threads that tie violence to violence in the endless cycle of harm we inflict upon each other. With recent news, I have been thinking, "You know, for so many people so happy about Usama's death, I bet many have no idea that the attacks of 9/11 were not just some random craziness, but a well thought-out plan to make us feel what he felt while watching these two towers in Beirut fall after being bombed by Israel in 1982."

I'm not saying either side is in the right; I feel personally that the whole thing is just sad, from both sides. I just thought how every always talks about "watching the towers fall," but have never considered they only saw that because of the towers that bin Laden saw fall in 1982.

Hi again, I just realize that I made a mistake in believing that the barracks bombing was in 1982 - it was 1983. Sorry for the confusion.

With respect to why bin laden did what he did, it doesn't matter, there is just no justification for murdering so many innocent and defenseless mothers, fathers, daughters and sons. A military target would have been a better choice, but even then, it wouldn't have been justified in my view.

I still like your piece because it seems to come from a place deep inside you. You connected with it, and now the reader has. The circle is complete.

Regards,

Joe

I appreciate your comments once again. Again, I wasn't justifying either or any attacks, but as you said, just trying to "connect with it" from a side that many don't.

Touching. A very thoughtful piece.

Well thank you for the read and the time you took to comment.