Bad 9-11 poetry: ‘Our American Pride,’ ‘Open Letter to: Our Phantom Foe’
Some more Bad 9-11 Poetry for you to enjoy. Click the “Bad 9-11 Poetry” category on the right side of the page for past entries. The basic background is that average citizens wrote poems and submitted them to the Utah newspaper I worked for after Sept. 11, 2001, evidently hoping we would publish them. We did not. I am publishing them here, now. This is probably not what they wanted.
Our American Pride
by Lori Adams
Today is such a tragic day
For now we all will stop and pray
For those who lost their lives without warning
We now must face another morning
With blood on our faces and hearts full of sorrow
We know the sun will rise tomorrow
To you evil souls be not mistaken
Because the “sleeping giant” has been reawakened
We will stand and fight for those who died
You cannot kill our American Pride.
[Why is there blood on our faces?!!??!]
* * * * *
Open Letter To: Our Phantom Foe
by Shane Greer
Dastardly faceless phantom,
Cravenly skulking foe;
Slithering as the viper,
Your venomous act to bestow.
Infamy, your crowning glory,
Black as the pit whence you’ve sprung,
Spawned by the father of darkness
Whose praises your foul soul has sung.
Cloaked in his veil you have ventured,
Unbidden and secreted here,
To prey upon the innocent;
Exacting your ransom most dear.
By no noble cause may you stand forth,
For nobleness has no place in you,
To lay claim of justification,
There is no excusing the evil you do.
Pure hatred alone must inspire it,
Replete with blood-thirsty desire.
These are that essence, rather,
Of the spark which ignited your fire.
You’ve waylayed this maiden in chambers,
Invaded her privacy there,
With basest intent to maul and maim,
Disfigure her countenance fair.
Indeed, she reels bloodied and wounded,
Suff’ring your onslaught and pained;
Shocked and dismayed and shaken,
Yet, no greater advantage you’ve gained.
For beneath her visage so comely
Lays substance unapparent to you,
The heart of a lion, ferocious,
Draped in a lambskin to view.
She may appear docile and helpless,
Exposed to your ravening jaws,
But she lacks only just motivation
To unsheath her razor-sharp claws.
You’ve supplied this ad infinitum,
Her wrath be prepared to receive
When she’ll soon sniff you out of hiding
Her suff’ring and grief to relieve.
For the moment you lurk, form and faceless;
Savoring the evil you’ve done.
Be assured you’ll not go unrewarded,
No vic’try at all have you won.
Your days on their earth, now, are numbered,
God’s scales have been readied and stored
To weigh you in judgment, on passing,
When you come cow’ring before the Lord.
[If my reading of the poem's metaphors is correct, in the second stanza America is compared to a woman who has been raped by evil-doers but who will now reap bloody vengeance on them. I'm pretty sure I have seen horror movies based on exactly that plot.]
October 26th, 2006 at 5:32 am
Wow. That’s bad stuff.
October 26th, 2006 at 6:50 am
The first time Eric published some of these I wasn’t all that amused. I thought that the poems were probably heartfelt and expressed some of what we all felt on 9/11.
But then it occurred to me that people sent these to a newspaper. To be published! So it doesn’t bother me in the least. They should have kept them in their diaries.
October 26th, 2006 at 9:33 am
Why does it physically PAIN me to read these? I can’t really laugh at them; I’m wincing too hard.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:45 am
These poems all remind me of poetry I wrote under duress in sophomore year of high school. The only reason I have ever written poetry was for assignments in English class. And all of my poems really sucked, because they all felt forced (because they were). Maybe these people felt that 9/11 was their poetry assignment all over again. At any rate, Lowdoggy Dogg is right. What were these people thinking when they sent these into a newspaper? Was there some sort of contest or request for poetry by the newspaper? I don’t understand that thought process at all. Tragedy —> Poetry —> Send to newspaper.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
The last one, to me, sounds like it should be a song. The band that performs it should scream a lot. Maybe that’s why they send the poems to the newspaper. Maybe they’ll be discovered! Or maybe their friend or relative was impressed by the talent and encouraged them to send it in so all could feel the intensity of the poem.
At least they’re not e-mails that curse you if you don’t send them on to at least 10 people, you heartless sinner!
October 26th, 2006 at 11:04 pm
ps That last remark was sarcastic and refering to those awful chain-e-mails. Did it sound like I was saying that to Eric?
October 27th, 2006 at 7:43 am
Don’t worry, Card, he’s heard worse.
October 27th, 2006 at 11:12 am
I think that “Our Phantom Foe” should be made into a church hymn. I’m sure there’s a rousing chorus in there somewhere, like: “Your days on their earth, now, are numbered/ God’s scales have been readied and stored/ To weigh you in judgment, on passing/ When you come cow’ring before the Lord!”
October 27th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
I don’t know. Seems sort of in bad taste to put these forth now. Not because of the subject matter, but just because it sort of seems mean. The poetry is bad to be sure, and the authors did hope it would be published in a public forum, but it wasn’t: why bring it back now? Just to mock it? Not sure that’s a good reason. Just sayin’.
October 27th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
There is obviously insufficient negative reinforcement to prevent the creation and distribution of bad poetry. I have no problem with Eric doing his small part to correct the situation.
October 29th, 2006 at 10:22 am
I can’t even read these. I kind of skimmed them. But it just hurts too much, perhaps because I am a writer and I love language, so it feels like these people are personally stomping on my puppy. And then expecting me to cry. And then stomping again, just to make sure.