Saturday, September 11, 2021

A MEMOIR ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001



TWENTY YEARS AGO


A poem by Anthony Noriega-Carranza


Twenty years ago, I went out for breakfast at a Brazilian deli

in the Center of Cliffside Park.

Twenty years ago, I had a woman whom I could not trust.

There, then, I saw the smoke on the skyscrapers

as I was having my morning little meal.

I thought it had been an accident of a small plane

as shown on the small screen when the fumes started

and soon augmented over the face of devilish terror.

Then, I drove on Bergenline and along the Boulevard

and I reached the three resembling Galaxy towers

in the middle of the crowd on this side of the river

and I saw the burning flames from the tallest towers.

Twenty years ago, I heard the news, as I drove away,

that the twin towers had fallen, one after the other.

And for the first time, I felt quite sad where I was.

And for this, since then everything has changed...

There was no more love, as I uncovered the truth.

And there were fewer jobs, as friends and businessmen died.

There, I missed former school classmates, friends, and acquaintances

who vanish in the air like kites or flying puppets, 

and some neighbors who never returned home,

and firefighters, and also other heroes who could not do so.