Neuroma

my 911 poem

First my weaknesses are of those on

the roof who decided to jump. May

as well lose on your own terms, I figured. 

Holy Father, what happened? It's me

again paying lipservice to sacrifice

that wasn't drawn from humility

nor drug from paradise nor like Adonis killed by

a wild bore yet restored/ but

what of young love

or hansom children?

What of the things i've thrown away:

English degree

three lovers (two gone mad)

a diabetic dad. The black eyed Susan's

that multiplied and threw themselves limp on the porch.

What of the last moments before my plane

plows down the elevator shaft? Childless,

do you hike your dress up in one last act of

flirtation or tare at the face of the man

sitting next to you? Do you take your

last drag of oxygen like sucking on that

blunt with Curtis in his bathroom? I mean,

how many houses have we passed Oh Lord and

wondered about the crazy persons locked in their basements?

2> I adored the people that I buried. All of them. I guess they too

are customary poetics, close to cause and attached to amendments

like a law never followed. Adorning. Blessed but rushed out

like Plath's last poems. And any suggestion that poetry

cheapens worth is the liturgical removal of hurt and time.

Time is jubilant , even raucous. Death is context and adorning..

We don't always get to pick our poison.

Reviews

[albee]

I have jumped into this stream of consciousness
three four five, six times now. So many directions, pools and rapids. My thoughts and feelings whelmed in its whirlpools and eddies. My words fail to express its depth, personalization, history of a mass death event, Shakespearean reference, and the ghost of the bell jar poetrist. It is compelling me to jump in again.

[h d e rushin]

thank you dearest poet..for those kind remarks..dana

[albee]

I want to cut your poem with Jefferson’s knife. You heard of TJ’s bible? To feel your poem pierce me with precise phrases...would be Devine

[Robert Trakofler]

This is so layered i am sure if i read this another 10 times i would find more. Your neuroma is my vertigo that's right! I never had vertigo until after 911... I am not exaggerating I used to jump out of airplanes I worked for a window sash company and did 10 story installs:/ Now if I stand on my ladder and look down I get very dizzy which is annoying cause my store has 18 foot ceilings. I attempted to write a song about this and I could never finish it but to this day I still see them fly Dana

[h d e rushin]

I thought it was just me with this fear of looking up / getting dizzy while standing on the three foot latter to fetch my Cheerio's/ even riding in the elevator to the top floor of the "Property Tax Assessment Dept. building in Downtown Detroit, I couldn't wait for that damn sliding door to open. But the good thing about 911 is that we can put the sorrow down until next September unless we knew someone who breathed the ash or someone who perished on that horrible morning. Perhaps that's how the anniversaries of bad events work.You get an entire year to forgot what happened. Thanks my friend for your wonderful review....dana

[Einstein Noodle]

I have a neuroma that traveled up me back :))))))))) thanks for my word for the day Dana! this really moves me .. somber and hits hard .. brings a lump to my throat and words right now .. i have so many thoughts inspired .. on sacrifice ..9/11 .. my own life of burying and adorning .. for me there is so much in this .. i can't take it all in at once .. read and re-read and need to come back to read again .. into me ol' library this goes .. my feelings are such deep sorrow and pain you have touched the nerve .. made it personal .. well done! your voice is your own .. you do it well says i!

[h d e rushin]

why do I still get emotional on Sep 11, after almost 20 years? It's the finality of it all. The not finding so many of the dead, the young people jumping to their deaths.....thanks Einstein for finding this one....dana

[Einstein Noodle]

yes .. its indelible .. for me the Tunnels to Towers story and the reading of the names help .. i didn't know anyone who passed but we felt it as a Nation and you are right .. no matter how many years go by it will have the same effect .. wonderful poem says i!