Bad 9-11 poetry: ‘Ballad of 9/11/01,’ ‘Love Will Always Prevail’
Two more poems written by Utahns in the days after 9/11, submitted (unsolicited) to the newspaper I was working for at the time. (For more background, read the earlier entries in this category.)
By the way, we only have two more editions of this feature before the well runs dry. So those who don’t like it only have to be forced at gunpoint to read it twice more after this.
Ballad of 9/11/01
by Andrea Dietrich
[Note: This poem was apparently meant to be a song, as the word "ballad" in the title suggests. Conveniently, I note that it can be sung to the tune of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song. Sing away!]
A bright blue Indian summer morn.
An unexpected jolt.
Hundreds instantly massacred
On day of thunderbolt.
Workers in the tower’s twin
Who gaped in disbelief,
Minutes later too were hit
That day of horror and grief.
By radio and TV show
The news was quickly spread.
The world was left incredulous.
A day for feeling dread.
And still the killing wasn’t done.
Before our nations’ eyes
The Pentagon was next attacked
That day of sad surprise.
Back to the scene in Manhattan,
Some folks were stuck in rooms
of towers with tops obscured by smoke.
That day of shadows and gloom.
And some, choosing not to face the fire,
Jumped to their deaths in fright.
People screamed or averted their eyes.
A day of hideous sights.
But no, the worst wasn’t finished yet.
South Tower did collapse
As people fled down crowded steps.
Oh, day to flabbergast!
Of those on the outskirts looking on,
Many met with the same tragic fate.
Police and firemen who rushed in.
Oh, day to commiserate.
And rendering hope was Father “Mike”,
Unvanquished by helplessness,
Who died will giving a brother last rites.
Oh, day of selflessness.
In the midst of rubble and ash and flame
And calls to evacuate,
The northern tower came crumbling down
On day of hasty escape.
As people spilled out onto the streets,
Their lungs filled with debris,
They sobbed for loves most likely lost.
A day of melancholy.
Meanwhile were martyrs in nearby skies.
We heard with sympathy
How Flight 93 had crashed on ground
On day of infamy.
But striking in difference from other events,
Though all were senselessness,
Strong acts of heroics were doubtless employed
That day of defenselessness.
The terror receded. Our president spoke.
We listened to what he would say.
From home and abroad he rallied support
On a day to ponder and pray.
A might giant has been awoke.
And its hand is beckoning.
Faceless cowards cannot hide long
On this daybreak of reckoning.
* * * * *
Love Will Always Prevail
author unknown
[This one's clearly meant to be a song, too, with a chorus and even a bridge. I don't know what tune it can be sung to, though. Any suggestions?]
You show your hatred
You give us pain
But we always find a way to love again
You cause destruction
You tear apart
But you’re never gonna stop our beating heart
Cause America
Is built on Love
And the heart of this land will never fail
When all is said and done
We will still be #1
Because Love will always prevail
We’ve been scarred
By you before
And I’m sure America will see some more.
But your hatred
Can not compare
With the love your gonna see this nation share
‘Cause America
Is built on Love
And the heart of this land will never fail
When all is said and done
We will still be #1
Because Love will always prevail
Try to tear us apart and watch us pull together
America’s heart will keep beating forever
Cause America
Is built on Love
And the heart of this land will never fail
When all is said and done
We will still be #1
Because Love will always prevail
December 6th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Oh no! Not more 9/11 poetry!!
As for Love Will Prevail, it is clearly meant to be sung in the heavy metal style. I was trying to sing it to Metallica’s Sad But True, but as I have no musical ability, I just ended up looking like an idiot shouting at my computer.
December 6th, 2006 at 6:09 am
“Oh, day to flabbergast!”
Hi - frickin’ - larious.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:08 am
I flabbergasted like six times that day.
You can sort of squish and stretch Love Will Prevail into “We Built This City,” but that’s not a very good fit; nor is “Country Roads”. “Come to Zion” requires to much squishing and such…
“Day to flabbergast.” Man. Truer words were ne’er spoken.
December 6th, 2006 at 8:14 am
I was going to post my favorite stanza and react, but each stanza is equally bad. So short of posting both “poems” again–WOW!
I can’t tell if they are ‘Reflections Contest’ rejects, or ward talent show successes.
December 6th, 2006 at 9:14 am
It takes some tweaking, but I think “Basket Case” by Green Day works pretty well on the second one, especially on the chorus. It would definitely be easier to make a rap out of it, like “Intergalactic” or “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys.
There. That’s my contribution to society for the day.
December 6th, 2006 at 9:55 am
At last! I know what I am supposed to do on the anniversary of 9/11! From now on, I will flabbergast on that day. What a relief!
All I want to know is why these people insist on rhyming their poems, when they clearly have no rhyming ability. If you have trouble rhyming, then for the love of literacy, please do not use words like “flabbergast” or “infamy.”
December 6th, 2006 at 11:08 am
Going along with cheezy TV themes, may I suggest “Brady Bunch” for the second, with the appropriate stanza endings indicated below.
You show your hatred
—(Here’s a story…)
You give us pain
But we always find a way to love again
You cause destruction
You tear apart
But you’re never gonna stop our beating heart
—(That’s the way they all became the Brady Bunch)
Cause America
Is built on Love
And the heart of this land will never fail
When all is said and done
We’ll still be 1
‘Cause Love will always prevail
—(The youngest one in curls…)
We’ve been scarred
By you before
And I’m sure America will see some more.
But your hatred
Can not compare
With the love your gonna see this nation share!
—(That’s the way they all became the Brady Bunch!)
‘Cause America
—(The Brady Bunch)
Is built on Love
—(The Brady Bunch)
And the hearrrrt of this land will never fail!
—That’s the way we became the Brady Bunch!)
December 6th, 2006 at 12:11 pm
Oh Day to flabbergast
That would be today after reading that line.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
This is why I don’t write poetry. As hilariously awful as these works are, I know that if I tried to write a poem about 9-11, it would probably turn out at least as bad.
December 6th, 2006 at 2:19 pm
See, and I thought the first one was pretty good, until I got to the day of flabbergast. The use of that word made me think it had to be a joke, and it doesn’t rhyme with collapse anyway.
But it’s probably a really good thing I don’t write poetry any more, and a REALLY good thing I don’t send any of my old ones to newspapers.
December 6th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Did it used to be common to have poetry printed in the newspaper? It seems like we have copies of poetry that my grandmother wrote that was printed in the newspaper. Maybe that’s the source of all of this poetry? Not my grandma, but rather just because it used to be common?
December 6th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
I almost thought the second could be sung to “We are the champions”. Not quite.
But you can try.
Here is a source for your lipsyncing joy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sogKUx_q7ig
(a delight in of itself)
December 6th, 2006 at 5:41 pm
Is it me or has more than one of these poems indicated something about a ’sleeping giant’?
December 7th, 2006 at 4:23 am
Most giants are sleeping ones, it gets really tiring being huge and all.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:03 am
Be afraid of the “might giant.”
December 7th, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Might Giants write really good music, though. Build a little birdhouse in your soul, y’all.
December 7th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Rhyming helplessness with selflessness is pure gold.
December 7th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
My favorites, from the Ballad of 9/11/01:
“Back to the scene in Manhattan”
… are we watching the news?
“Unvanquished by helplessness”
… How could you come up with that while trying to write a poem, much less a song?
This is beautiful garbage.
December 8th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Somebody who knows good poetry from bad, please give me an example of a good poem. I mean, there are some things that would tip me off that it’s bad, but many that are considered good seem the same to me.
I love “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” And “Remember” by Christina Rossetti. But I don’t know if they’re “good” or not.
December 27th, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Singing “Ballad of 9/11″ to the theme of “Gilligan’s Island” is lots more entertaining if you repeat the last line of every stanza. It’s especially fun on the “day to flabbergast” stanza. Try it. It’s fun and nutritious.
March 24th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
I know it’s late, but Momma Snider Dulce and Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, or anything by Seigfried Sasson.
Definition of ballad: poem comprised of four line stanzas, with at least one line repeated in each stanza.
Does using the word “day” in each stanza count as a repeated line?
May 20th, 2007 at 10:25 am
What is everyone’s problem, I believe you are all jealous that you and those like you can not see the love this poet has of the people of the United States. That she used words such as flabbergast because there is no other word to describe the terror that happened that day. What is wrong with rythming when you can do so and I would say she did so with greatness. I believe that each and every one that responded so evilly take a look at yourself in the mirror.
By the way, the poem or ballad was not unsolicitated and who the blank are you to critize it the way you are doing. I for one think your an idiot without a soul. If anyone was interested that poem or ballad was written just the day the event happened. It was written because she was the mother of a marine and she feared for her son and for other sons of other mothers who would for certain go to war and die serving jerks like you without the souls.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:14 am
Jennifer, you wrote that first horrible poem, didn’t you? Just admit it, and do so with greatness. Surely you can recognize the difference between “O” (as in “expression of reverence”) and “Oh” (as in “oh dear, what atrocious poetry!”) and that lines like “though all were senselessness” is just plain sloppy writing, regardless of the uniform emotion of those events.
And no, the paper was not particularly interested in the hundreds of “unsolicitated” bad poems and ballads that befell their office. Do you even know what jealously is?
July 29th, 2008 at 8:23 am
My sister-in-law ‘for certain went to war’, and yet I managed to resist writing crappy poetry. She has forgiven me for being a ‘jerk without the soul’.