Man down

good stuff, Jon. nice one

It still hurts
The images
The pain on their faces
The shock of watching the second plane collide like a giant falling scimitar
The smoke and ash swallowing entire streets whole
The great crying maw of Hell and Death commanding it's pale horse forward

It still hurts

But from every fire is forged steel
From every smoke, a breath of air
From every tear a long, clean streak where the real person is seen
and the everyday is washed away

The terror drove some out
But the steel, the breath, and the tears rushed in
Covered from head to toe with determination
There are still lives inside

The burning, injured Juggernaut sways in pain
Tenacious and symbolic of a nation
surprised and maddened by the wound inflicted by a sense of righteousness
At that point we just wanted our friends back
Our loves
Our parents
Our children
Our joy

The steels, the tears, and the breaths rush in as many times as they can
Bringing some joy back into the world with every life they save
When The Juggernaut cannot stand any longer
It's integrity spent, watching it's mate collapse
And it falls a long exhale of smoke.
A long trail of tears.
Shattered, twisted steel in its wake.

The ones that escape tell us of its pain
The ones that did not remind us of our own

True heroes are made of steel
They cry trails of tears 13 years later
And they still hold their breath whenever a plane flies low.

good stuff, Pierre

these are all diverse thought chains, which is a good thing. fair play

**Sorry, Craic, no tribute to 911 here but to two men whom would have helped if one cared and the other hadn't died.**



~Tributes~

This is for
their red, white and blue
for their American Dream
and what they meant to themselves.


FORTY-FIVE YEARS LATER

he still talks about the hill,
going up the hill
coming down the hill
not Hamburger hill
just a hill, in the middle of a place
displaced by war’s chemicals
combative to communism
combative within himself
exasperated with his past
guarded of everyone, everything
his soul, a piper cub
flying high on a Monsanto and Dow dream
dispensing all that was once beautiful and sacred
clutching on dog tags from within an eternal nightmare
of an unborn son

(for Dennis Dermody, forty-five years later, I salute you still)


CARLOS

Married cousin,
he’s home after the war
two tours, no more

baby killer
wants a house
resembling a hole

an open yard
of endless paddy fields

a trenched backyard
to cross the Mekong on foot

a wife
to hump, wet and dry

no baby’s
of Betty’s bouncing on his lap

a grave
to sleep in a tomb

paint
to camouflage realities war

he doesn’t want your TV
he doesn’t yearn for friends
he can barely say ‘hi’
much less look anyone in the eyes

he’s a baby killer, so they say,
he’s not a hero
he’s not a vet
he’s not a husband
he’s not a father

in his mind
he’s just an FNG
in baby killing anatomy

(for my cousin Carlos, R.I.P, and to this day I still salute you)

____________"Not enough time..."


The day I was at work in my office cubicle.
I heard that God awful explosive roar and
terrible shaking of the floor and ceilings.

Screams echoed and my ears were ringing
from both the explosive impact and the
ones who were suffering.

The room was full of acrid smoke and the
air burned for some strange reason.  I
staggered along helping those I could that
were still conscious and not in shock to
move the rubble from their bodies.  So we
could try in our meager group to make our
way to any kind of safety.

The 1st group I lead to a stairwell with
flickering lights and filled with smoke.
I knew that this stairwell would bypass the
1st central elevator.  So that if they were
lucky they might make it to what was left
of the second one if it was still working?

I grabbed an axe off the wall and continued
to knock away debris and free as many as I
could from their entrapments upon our floor.
On this horrible unholy day.  An unexpected
terrifying holocaust of terroristic proportions.

I knew time was running out for me as the
building began to shake again.  As if a massive
earthquake was not far below.  The walls billowed
in and out.  That's when a large chunk of metal
which I was unaware of came crashing down towards my
head.  In my last moments my hopes and prayers went out
to those whom I tried to free.

(what can i say its not my tragedy but
not an entry)


honey
i had a bad day at work.
sometimes, i just
want you to listen,
you know,
you
know

my boss died
they're all
all of them are dead.
i think i'm dead.
plane.
a plane crashed into us.
no, thankyou
no coffee

but some tea would be nice

i need to tell you babe,
i hate the rolling stones
and i'm fucking your sister.

I just read this Lepp, didn't notice this before... But wow this line stopped me dead in my tracks!
give yourself the throphy!!!

we were mesmerized, my friends and I
watched the thick smoke plumes conquer the sky
and they and I were sad and afraid
because America was dying <----- Dead Bang!
and it felt like hell was on its way

Condemnation
Suffocation
Ripped the heart out of the nation,
Devastation,
Followed by congregation,
And to the heroes, salutation.

Never stop fighting,
Never give up,
Never forget.

Children dying,
Elders crumbling,
Dust, smoke and bricks,
Ash, stones and sticks,
Fire, water, steel,
Melting, choking, feel,

Rescue is a moment away,
Can't go out this way,
Fighting to keep my eyes open,
Not even sure if I have spoken,
But I see a shadow,
Is it death?
No, he's human,
Brushing through dust and smoke,
Avalanche through the fort,
Finding freedom, open air,
Thank god my hero is really there.

Chaos is nauseating,
I'm OK but a child is dead,
Concrete hammer on his head,
Man risked his life to save me,
Child didn't get the same luxury.

Condemnation
Suffocation
Ripped the heart out of the nation,
Devastation,
Followed by congregation,
And to the heroes, salutation.

Never stop fighting,
Never give up,
Never forget.

good stuff, Lady D. nice tributes that fit here in no way at all haha :)`

Vortexman, gôod stuff.  Miz Grinn, funny and probably true in some cases uniqueshaky, gôod stuff

Zazzles.

Quite a decent offering. a lot of information in there and a nice focus at the end with Pork chops the dog. I s'pose it's easy to forget that there were a lot of K9 search and rescue running about the place sniffing out survivors, good stuff.  I appreciate the amount of edits you've done, fair play


Kriticool  

If I read the prelude correctly you've ruled yourself out of being an actual entrant, so I'll just thank you for the words and add they were a good read


Primogenito

a decent offering with a different perspective, some very good images and memories which made for an interesting read. cheers, good job

EngrVV

another interesting perspective on the heroes of sept 11 :)'. a decent read nonetheless, and spelling salute to the marines with the first letters thing you done ( I'm sure there's a term for it)  was also good.  cheers


Jon

a fine take on the subject, I get that people are of the mind that it's what the job calls for and agree to an extent. anyhow, reading the write was enjoyable. remarkable flow, especially in the second and third. I was stuck trying to judge a winner between yours and the one below. it wasn't an easy call

thanks most much


Pierre

the first line set the tone while reading, remarkable write through and through. again, some really great images and phrases littered all the way through. also and I s'pose what snatched the trophy from Jon in the end was the poem made me rethink my own thoughts that I had at the start of this comp.


Lady Devlin

you offerings were quite good and quite readable. in terms of tributes they were both well written and easy to follow. in the context of the prompt I had to rule them out of the running though. sorry 'bout that. good job nonetheless

vortexman

again, damn decent read. good translation of memories or projection of could be memories, there were a few stories coming to light about workers in the towers who risked their lives to save others. nice pace and decent images, grand ending


Anna

have to say, I liked yours a lot. your take, though amusing did touch upon another side of the event ie survivors who gained a new perspective of their lives. since you stuck a no entry sign at the top I'll leave it at that

uniqueshaky

another fine write and i thought the repeat of the first stanza  was justified. sad ol' story all the same but compelling. fair play, well done




ok so like I say Pierre gets the first place trophy, with Jon coming at a very close second

third place was a hard one to award too because I thought that they all shone in their own way. in the end I went with uniqueshaky and offer an honorable mention to Zazzles for her dedication to the subject.

thank you all most much.

results

lepperochan said:results


i see you found the jesus on crack i referenced

yes, yes I did. haha.  shame on you for not knowing who it is though..

i know who that is..oor willie, your willie....:-)

appreciate the head nod lepp............

pierre well done man.....

cheers unique......


lepp i like the shorter time allotment for entries.
with attentiveness it feels like things move much not just faster but smoother.

good comp..............