Sarah Was Born on 9/11…by Robert M. Katzman (9/1/11)
I look up, I see nothing
Blue skies, evaporated people
Numb now to horror then
A decade ago
What to say that’s not been said?
I’ve been thinking on that
*
Pearl Harbor’s flying attacking bombers
Began a war seventy years ago
A lifetime ago
So similar to the towers in loss
In treachery
*
In my imagination
I stand up two battleships
Parallel and invincible
Then burning and sinking
People falling from the carnage
*
So easy to attack Hawaii
We were at peace with Japan
And they used our trust as a weapon
Killing us while we were sleeping
*
So easy to attack New York
We were at peace with the Saudis
And they used our trust as a weapon
Killing us on an ordinary day
*
Now we protect Japan
Our ally in business
We remain friends with the Saudis
Our vital source of oil
*
Sarah was born on 9/11
Only five when the buildings sank into the earth
Like giant stone spikes
Hammered and Hammered and Hammered
*
Her special day remains
Forever in the shadow
Of nonexistent buildings
A casualty of tragedy
*
The youngest draftees of World War 2
Are either ninety or dead
As are their parents/sisters/brothers/friends
Even the children are going
*
World War 2 is now words on a page
Like “Remember the Maine!”
And Sarah turns the page, unmoved
Time has flattened the moments
into
Silent anonymous print
Â
Lincoln?
The same
Kennedy?
The same
King?
The same
*
For now
The Manhattan wound remains fresh
Parents/sisters/brothers/friends
Remember and cry
*
Day by day
There are less who were witnesses
Day by day
It slips further back in time
What is the lesson?
How to make sense of the incomprehensible?
*
Tragedy and death seared our nation
Perhaps we will learn who to trust
Perhaps we will make it harder to kill us
While we are sleeping
While we are working
*
One day, all the witnesses
Will also be dust
Will rise up in the wind
Joining their
Parents/sisters/brothers/friends
And 9/11 will be old words on a page
*
Day, by day, by day
Our nation will heal
Sarah was born on 9/11
Happy Birthday, my Daughter
********************************************
Publishing News!
Bob Katzman’s two new true Chicago books are now for sale, from him!
Vol. One: A Savage Heart and Vol. Two: Fighting Words
Gritty, violent, friendship, classic American entrepreneurship love, death, heartbreak and the real dirt about surviving in a completely corrupt major city under the Chicago Machine. More history and about one man’s life than a person may imagine.
Please visit my new website: https://www.dontgoquietlypress.com
If a person doesn’t want to use PayPaI, I also have a PO Box & I ship anywhere in America.
Send me a money order with your return and contact info.
I will get your books to you within ten days.
Here’s complete information on how to buy my books:
Vol 1: A Savage Heart and Vol. 2: Fighting Words
My books weigh almost 2 pounds each, with about 525 pages each and there are a total together of 79 stories and story/poems.
Robert M. Katzman
Don’t Go Quietly Press
PO Box 44287
Racine, Wis. 53404-9998 (262)752-3333, 8AM–7PM
Books cost $29.95 each, plus shipping
For: (1)$3.95; (2)$5.95; (3)$7.95; (4)$8.95 (5)$9.95;(6) $10.95
(7) $11.95; (8) $12.95; (9)$13.95 (10)$15.95 (15)$19.95
I am also for hire if anyone wants me to read my work and answer questions in the Chicago/Milwaukee area. Schools should call me for quantity discounts for 30 or more books. Also: businesses, bookstores, private organizations or churches and so on.
My Fighting Words Publishing Co. four original books, published between 2004 and 2007 are now out-of-print. I still have some left and will periodically offer them for sale on my new website.