Here are the poems which we will discuss today:
Wislawa Szymborska, “Photograph from September 11” (online)
Martin Espada, “Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100” (online)
Adam Zagajewski, “Try to Praise the Mutilated World” (online)
Galway Kinnell, “When the Towers Fell” (online)
Links here: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/911poetry/
From September 11, 2011: American Writers Respond
Preface by William Heyen
Naomi Shihab Nye, “To Any Would-Be Terrorists (287)
Dianne Seuss, “Falling Man” (350)
Maxine Hong Kingston, “Memorial Service” (222)
Fred Moramarco, “Messages from the Sky” (279)
Two of the poems deal with the so-called "Falling Man," as will Jonathan Safran Foer's novel; why do you think that this image has become such a central image of 9/11, and how do the poems make a symbol of this jumper?
1. When reading these pieces, ask if they are poems of grief or grievance, or do they perform some other cultural work?
2. How do these poems represent and reflect on the events of 9/11, in ways that the official narrative of the Commission Report does not? Why?
3. If you were to choose one to be the most important poem of 9/11, which would it be, and why?
When I first read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I, too, became fascinated with the image of the Falling Man. While I'm sure we'll touch more on it in class, I think that people become so disturbed by the image because of how easily we can all relate to it. I think the image immediately puts the viewer into that situation: burn alive or jump.
ReplyDeleteI found this disturbing idea in the poem "Falling Man." The poem begins: "The man falls. I'm told / he jumped; he had no choice, / or two bad choices. Burn / or fall. He chose / falling." I find it very interesting that the poet hesitates on defining the options of the man. Technically, he truly did have two choices. However, in reality, I think that he did not really have a choice; either way, due to the attacks, he was going to die. His only option was choosing his means of dying.
Once again, I want to say that the image forces the viewer to imagine that situation. It could have happened to anyone, so I think the photograph asks the viewer: would you have stayed? or would you have jumped?
I just wanted to take the time and say that I completely agree with Bethany's comment. When I read the poem "Falling Man," I immediately began to think about the choice that I would make if I ever, heaven forbid, were in that situation. It may seem like a morbid thought, however for me, it was kind of involuntary. I instantaneously thought of what I would do were I in the shoes of those poor people.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to mention how much I enjoyed the poem "Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100." I looked up the meaning of the word "alabanza," and it is a Spanish word that refers to hymns of praise to the saints and the Virgin Mary. This was definitely a poem that sounds like a hymn, and it seems appropriate to me that he named the poem "Alabanza" in order to praise all of those people that died working at the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the WTC.
He also took the time to point out that not only Americans died in the attack on 9/11. His depiction of "the chant of nations" was incredibly powerful for me. It reminds us that even though the attack was on American soil, the entire world was joined in grief. The terrorists were targeting Americans, but in the process they killed people from many, many countries: Ecuador, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Yemen, Ghana, and Bangladesh were all a few named in the poem. I am not sure if it impacted others in the same way, but I just wanted to share a little bit of my perspective of how powerful "Alabanza" was for me.
I wanted to write a quick comment about the Falling Man poem and Photograph From September 11. Personally, I did not like Falling man as much as I liked the Photograph one. I felt that Photograph did a good job of detailing what happened and showing her feelings without making a personal connection. I didn't like that Falling Man made such a personal connection, mainly because I think its impossible to understand what someone put in that position went through. Also, I didn't like Falling Man because it emphasises that single man. Hundreds and hundreds of people jumped from those buildings and Falling Man makes it feel like it was only that one person that jumped. Photograph accounts for the others and the author explains how the only thing she can do is tell their story and not add a last line to her poem because there's nothing more she can say.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read "Falling Man", I was put off by the fact that Dianne Seuss chose to focus her poem on the image of not just one person, but specifically one man. The attacks forced many different types of people to jump, but Seuss immediately ignored an entire gender of people who faced that same "decision" (if we can call it that). In her defense, I realize that she chose to focus on one single man because of the image that she saw, but I personally feel that it would have been a more "successful" poem if she had let that image inspire her to write about the diverse types of people who were forced to make that terrible decision.
ReplyDeleteAfter class on Monday, I really started to think about the idea that it may not be fair to make assumptions about someone for the sake of art. While I'm sure Seuss meant well by portraying this man as, for instance, "Such a grownup. Competent. A man/Who knows how to take care of himself", I realized that she really is just making up ideal characteristics that we want to believe. In reality, we really don't know anything about this man, and are not feeling sympathy for the person that he really was, but rather who he is portrayed to be. In other words, I would probably be upset if an image existed of me in my absolute worst moment, on the verge of death, and the poem that was written about my image was not a legitimate representation of me at all. It would be a false representation, and my true self would essentially be forever overshadowed by the portrayal that the poet chose instead.
Personally, the hanging man poems were not my favorite. My favorite was actually the "Praise the dying world" poem. I found it to be a poem of redemption and positivity, as opposed to one of negativity. The poem focuses on the fact that there is dark in the world but there is also light, and we have to see both to stay sane. The falling poems, on the other hand, focus on a very graphic image of people in the darkest, most desperate moment. Although beautifully written, I find the image of a man falling to his death too much to take. I wonder if it's dishonorable to their memory.
ReplyDeleteI think that what we are getting at is the dignity of the human person that everyone possesses. For the respect and dignity of that person it would be wrong to portray artistically in a very intimate time of their life. I even saw a gory picture of a body after it hit the ground. Now that is wrong to keep our attention on. That is not showing respect for the dignity of the human person by looking at their mangled body after they chose to jump out of a building. Would we really want someone looking at our bodies after a horrible car accident?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite poem was "Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100", which we discussed briefly in class, but what struck me the most about the poem was not. Personally, I feel like in general, poetry falls more in the category of grief than grievance. While I realize that there are poetry readings in front of groups and classroom discussions of poems, I feel like poetry is an art form that strikes on more of an individual level. People can go to a concert and sing together, as one unified group. Even if a group of people gather for a poetry reading, the image of the event in my head is that they are quietly listening and for the most part keeping emotions and things of the like within themselves. To me, grievance is the process of coping with or overcoming grief, which I suppose can be done without other people, but I associate it with leaning on other people and going through the process with them. However, this poem goes against my notion of where a typical poem would fall, as for me, it should be in the grievance category. I can hear groups of people saying or perhaps even shouting alabanza in one unified voice, praising those who did not survive. Further, the last stanza: "Alabanza. When the war began, from Manhattan to Kabul/
ReplyDeletetwo constellations of smoke rose and drifted to each other, / mingling in icy air, and one said with an Afghan tongue: / Teach me to dance. We have no music here. / And the other said with a Spanish tongue: / I will teach you. Music is all we have." elicits the natural human element of our world. Whether from Manhatten or over in Kabul, we are all human, and the poem shows a willingness to aid each other in the process of grieving despite our cultural differences.
On a different note, I like that this poem is for people who may not get much, if any, recognition, as not only does it give them the respect they deserve, but it also reminds me of those who died on September 11th from the crashing of the other two planes not in New York. It seems like everything is about the towers and what happened there, and sometimes I wonder if we really give those victims of the other parts of the attacks their due respect.
After reading "Photograph from September 11" I could not help myself but think, what would be going through my mind if I were a jumper? Would it be my family, friends, or would my life be in replay? Wislawa Szymborska really caught those 10 to 15 seconds of free fall in her poem especially when she says, "above the earth toward the earth". I also thought about the jumpers and their emotions right before they lept off the floor. What would it feel like to have no other choice than to jump, knowing that these few breathes would be your last?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite was "When the Towers Fell" I really enjoyed this poem because it really tied in almost every aspect of the attack. It mentions the people in London making phone calls before. It uses different languages to show different senses of culture. Then at the end it kind of ties all of the different cultures together in a way we all saw the attack on 9/11.
ReplyDeleteFalling Man was also one of my favorites. It really mad me think about putting myself in that position. I can't imagine myself having to think about making that kind of situation. I thought to myself if I were in the situation would me jumping be the way I "controlled" my death...instead of not being able to escape from the fire and burning to death I chose to jump from the building to know I died a different way.