Bad 9-11 poetry: ‘Freedom Flight 93,’ ‘Our Nation Weeps’
A couple more poems written by Utahns in the days after 9/11, submitted to the newspaper I was working for at the time. (For more background, read the previous entries in this category.)
Freedom Flight 93
by Crystal Ann Pett
Just like a normal day,
I felt the sun arise me with it’s rays.
And from my heart, I felt such joy to be
-a father of 3-
With little time I rushed to catch my flight,
Oh! how could I have known, natures tender call would take me from this life!
…My pregnant wife
Oh! to hold her just once more and feel her love!
Dear God above…
My life can save so many from this fate,
If it’s not too late,
Oh, please hear me now
Before I take this fatal call;
Send strength to those called after me to fight
FOR FREEDOM’S LIGHT
(CHORUS)
A light that’s shined for us this long
It bares the song
Of those who died to keep this country strong
For generations, their sacrifice has been this countries joy.
And now they call out from the dust to re-employ…
It’s time again to fight
FOR FREEDOM’S LIGHT
(end of chorus)
May our deaths bring out the soldier part
Inside every true American heart
That as this Plane steers down to it’s tragic final blow,
May American resolve with heavens wings aglow
Find justice still in this different war
And rekindle Freedoms flame, each time we see our dear flag soar.
That bravery will abound and courage will take root
And through Liberty’s aim our soldiers will shoot
At the heart of terror till it bleeds it’s last drop
Proving God is on FREEDOM’S side and the American heartbeat can NEVER stop.
Let terror be warned by the down of this flight,
you CANNOT dim our FREEDOM’S LIGHT!
(CHORUS)
For our children, God, please send them peace
As we fight for freedoms heavenly goal
That regardless of race, religion or sex,
Each soul can chose which direction they go
Be with our future generations
To calm their fears and answer their questions
Give them faith to believe
Good will triumph over evil
And courage to keep their dreams alive,
As we fight to pay for Freedom’s bill
Help keep laughter in their song
And heavens promise in their sight
Let this flight go down in victory
To strengthen FREEDOM’S LIGHT
[The designation of "CHORUS" leads me to believe these are song lyrics and not a poem, but the author did not submit music to accompany them, and it would be a strange song indeed that used the verb "re-employ" in its chorus. I would propose singing the lyrics to an already-written, familiar tune, but the fact that each line is a different number of syllables and the stanzas are randomly composed of anywhere from one to 10 lines makes me suspect no such tune exists.]
* * * * *
Our Nation Weeps
by Brandon Heaton
[This note accompanied the poem.] Written on September 11, 2001, the day the World Trade Twin Towers in New York City were attacked by two hijacked airliners and destroyed. This was an act of Terrorism where many thousands of people were killed or injured.
It is a quiet day,
For there is nothing to say.
Our country is in silence
Because of such violence.
So many people
Have lost their lives,
Such as Grandparents, children,
Husbands and wives.
I wonder so deeply
Way down in my heart
Why would those people
Tear families apart?
Why did it happen?
Nobody knows.
Who in this world
Would stoop so low?
We have been attacked
But it did not break our backs.
We will find who did this
And bring them to justice.
Now is the time
To come together.
We must remember
This day forever.
[I appreciate the author's explanatory note at the beginning. Often, we would receive poems about 9/11, read them, and then go, "What the heck was 9/11?!? Was it some kind of big important day or something??"
Also, note the clever rhyming of "did this" and "justice." It's hard to get away with that, but I think he pulled it off.]
November 15th, 2006 at 9:01 am
I couldn’t even bring myself to reading the song.
Words are powerful. Nowhere else is this so evident as in bad poetry.
November 15th, 2006 at 9:55 am
I too couldn’t make it through the song. My guess is that the sadness and sorrow of the event got in the way of better judgement here. These people are probably pretty happy that these (poems?) weren’t actually published. And hopefully none of those people read this blog…
November 15th, 2006 at 12:04 pm
I hope all the people who sent these in read this blog. And I hope they feel shame. But most of all, I hope that they never again attempt any form of poetry that does not start with the words “Roses are red….”
I do wonder, though, about this stanza:
“So many people
Have lost their lives,
Such as Grandparents, children,
Husbands and wives.”
Why name grandparents (and why capitalize it?) and children, but no just regular parents? Husbands and wives are mentioned, but apparently only childless couples lost their lives. Trying to apply any form of reasoning to this horrible poetry makes my teeth hurt.
November 15th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
Ick.
When I read these poems I feel
like I’ve been kissing an eel
a thousand times a day
since 1978
Now that’s poetry.
November 15th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
“I felt the sun arise me with it’s rays.”
My favorite line in the “song” “poem”. And not just because it’s two letters from a completely different (and much more amusing).
November 15th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
When faced with a song without a tune, I always sing the words (in my head) to the tune of the “Gilligan’s Island” theme. It doesn’t quite fit with the (nonexistent) meter of this “poem”, but it’s amusing to wrap the words around. Try it while reading the Sorting Hats songs in the early Harry Potter books.
November 15th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
Yeah, that’s pretty bad…
November 15th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
I can’t even read this poetry, it is so bad. It hurts. It causes me physical pain to read it. What was the the Herald thinking when it requested Provoans (Provoers? Provosticans? Provoers?) send in poetry? I think they were trying to get Eric to quit!
November 15th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
When I read of Crystal Ann Pett’s joy at being a father of three my brain hurt. Then I read the next line and realized she wrote from someone else’s perspective. Why did I expect her to be writing from her own POV?
Also: The Herald didn’t request this, did it? Surely not. Surely the newspaper didn’t commemorate 9/11 by asking for poetry contributions.
On the other hand, I can totally imagine a newly minted poet feeling the adrenaline while dropping her commemorative poem into the mailbox on the corner. You were inspired to write that poem, my dear. The undercurrents of the collective unconscious have found voice in your talent, and readers will obtain collective release in reading your work. And say, maybe other papers will pick up the poem, after having it sent to them by awestruck readers of the DH. Immortality and reprints in Dear Abby are surely not far behind.
November 16th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Eric said in another entry that no one requested it, and that the Herald - like most newspapers - never publishes poetry sent in by readers. They just forwarded all the stuff to him and said do something with this. I’m quite positive that’s how it went.