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A 9.11.91 Poem by Lloyd Schwartz –
With appreciation to Dr. Schwartz and first publisher
Triquarterly Review.
LUCIFER IN
"What
happened there—now all of you must adjust
your brains—is the greatest work of art ever . . ."
*
"They
were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building, so I said to them: be
patient."
*
"Look,
Teacher, the birds are on fire."
*
"What
do we do? What do we do?"
*
"When
people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the
strong horse."
*
"It
was raining bodies."
*
"Watching
TV—it's like watching pornography; watching ourselves getting fucked by those
planes, over and over. And we can't stop, we can't get
enough of it."
*
"People
running, billows of smoke, shaky cameras—it looked like some cheap disaster
movie."
*
"Everyone
was whispering."
*
"All
they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation."
*
"I
really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the
gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternate
lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way—I point the finger in their
face and say, `You helped this happen.'"
*
"Lobbing
cruise missiles from 2000 miles away—that's
cowardly."
*
"We
should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to
Christianity."
*
"All
Americans need to watch what they say, watch what they do."
*
"In
other words, the American flag stands for intimidation, censorship, violence,
bigotry, sexism, homophobia and shoving the constitution through a paper
shredder?"
*
"There
are organizations within the
*
"DO
NOT USE wire service stories which lead with civilian casualties from the
*
"You're
either with us or against us."
*
"He's
so popular now, he could actually be elected!"
*
"Axis of evil."
*
"Police
were acting on information that Mr. Boulez had once said in the 1960s that
opera houses should be blown up—comments which placed him on a list of possible
terrorist suspects."
*
"There
are times when a paranoid control freak is exactly what the situation
requires."
*
"It
seems inappropriate to perform excerpts from an opera about a terrorist act
right now ."
*
"Men
are shaving off their beards; thousands of people are lining up at movie
theaters in
*
"Audiences
at the present moment need comfort and solace."
*
"
*
"Saturday Night Live is one of our great institutions,
and that's why it's important for you to do your show tonight."
"Can we be funny?"
"Why start now."
*
"George
Llanes's mother unlocked the writer within him with
the purchase of a journal during his adolescence. Now those words are all she
has left of her only son."
*
"Kathleen
Hunt-Casy was a careful friend, who listened and
acted on what she heard. If someone mentioned that they had a baby and needed,
say, a picture frame, she would find one."
*
"I
went mad shopping today, and ninety percent of what I
got was for myself."
*
"It
can't be said with certainty that Richard Rodriguez was the only Puerto Rican
man ever to parade around in a skirt and enjoy it, but his family is certain
that no one could have reveled in doing so more than he did. A drummer in the
Port Authority's Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, officer
Rodriguez was as proud of being a police officer as he was of his Latin
heritage. And he didn't mind putting on a kilt and mixing the two. `He used to
say he was breaking barriers,' said his wife Cindy."
*
"At
the age of 78, Mary Alice Wahlstrom was a ball of
fire."
*
"Officials
estimate that as of Thursday, 4,651 people had died, or were missing and
presumed dead."
*
"She
never wanted to work there."
*
"Who's
going to push me on the swings?"
*
"As
of
*
"O beautiful for spacious skies."
*
"It
took at least two flight attendants to subdue the 6-foot-4-inch passenger as he
struggled to ignite his shoe."
*
"This
isn't
*
"My
mom is down there, whatever is left of her, and I don't want to see some
commercial skyscraper built on top of her."
*
"God bless America."
*
"Ya' did good, Rudy, you didn't
fuck up."
*
"In times of crisis, we must all decide again
and again whom we love."
*
"We
may never know why he turned his back on our country and our values."
*
"I
still can't sleep. I see those planes in my dreams, crashing into the towers
over and over again."
*
"KILL TERRORISTS!"
*
"Officials
estimate that as of Friday, 3,187 people had died, or were missing and presumed
dead, not including 19 hijackers."
*
"What's
the difference between detainees and prisoners?"
*
"City
officials estimate that as of Wednesday, 2,992 people had died, or were missing
and presumed dead."
*
"This
place has to be sanctified."
*
"Tally
of dead and missing 2,883."
*
"These
dogs are depressed."
*
"She
was one of the few hundred actually identified and confirmed dead; and although
they only found her foot, she was buried in a casket."
*
"343 fire-fighters."
*
"This
is the slaughter of the spy journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl."
*
"What
is coming to
*
"With us
or against us."
*
"There
is no weakness in reexamining policies that lead to terrorism—we'd be fools not
to."
*
"Not
for one moment have I thought or felt the way my words are now being
interpreted in the press."
*
"I
used the designation `work of art' to mean the work of destruction personified
in Lucifer. Of course it was a criminal
act because the innocent who had been killed had not been given a choice. . . .
But what happened SPIRITUALLY, this jump out of security, out of the
self-evident, out of the everyday life—
this
sometimes happens in art . . . or it is worthless."
*
"All
we can do is tell the stories and show the tape."
*
"I
pray every day to Michael, but not to Lucifer—that is, I do not allow myself to
do that--but he is very present, like in
*
"Any news from the outside?"
*
"In
retrospect, I should have mentioned the national sins without mentioning the
organizations and persons by name."
*
"It
did happen—right?"
*
"That's
so September 10th!"
*
"2,830."
*
"2,823."
*
"The
elevators are gone."
§
Ed Taylor: College Professor,
Writer and Poet Ed Taylor is completing an MFA in
Creative Writing at Antioch University Los Angeles.
to drive home a huge point
you need a big car, they
said
in american
some disagree with the feel
of a red white and blue
boot heel
as their neck’s manifest
destiny?
so duck and cover the
supper dishes
tuck gun in lap like napkin—
your friends in their skins
2 degrees
too dark—shoot, they shout
for our team with an
accent, so they
make the first course, with
us
now hungry enough to eat
fire
we broke some eggs for
this omelet
but only a chicken would
complain
& who were you just talking to?
the neighborhood watch
club’s
shot you on tape & hey,
your last
letter?—you misspelled
“desert”;
it’s “dessert”
On saturday, october 6
an expert snakes from
radios
like smoke, “there are times
you have to give war a
chance”—
ok there are war’s million
chances
before
but we believe this time
will get things right—
it is a christian act, the million-and-first
forgiveness
someone on the line collect is
pleading
needs help – you accept the
charges?
i wash my hands, friend
you are weak
like peace
(October 2001)
CHILDREN’S HOUR
Not being asked to your party
we invited ourselves
to kick in the door
do not take it personal,
just us
and our dog
Justice & for Afghans (not the dogs
the people)
we offer presents from
a surprise inside every
one
so be careful what you
wish for
signed
Pooh
NUKES RECONSTITUTED!
Contacts between
Go back beyond ten years.
Labs for germs and toxins found,
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to bring
death to us
“We know they bought
uranium,”
Aluminum tubes for fissionable stuff.
Shock and awe. “
Tens of thousands of innocents died
beneath the bombs.
Germs, nukes,
toxins? Not
found.
No flowers greeted these conquerors.
Our troops killed and wounded by the
thousands
Puppets installed, the suffering goes
on.
--John
R. Guthrie
The
Chickasaw
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