Blog 4 GDP

I did the response to Lauren Epperson’s Found Poem blog; I liked hers the most because it was about the after math of the Pentagon. The story offered a different perspective than most. I also really like Lauren’s story, if I am telling the truth, because it has a happy ending. So many stories ended with depressing endings. September 11^th was such a sad day that it is nice to hear someone writing about how they found their spouse.

Her poem starts off describing their day; the husband is caring for their child while watching cartoons. This makes me smile because I could imagine this child being like me or any other child, some kid staying at home that day watching the early cartoons. Even the first line seems to reflect what everyone else thought that day; September 11^th would be no different from any other day.

Then the poem progresses into caustic and jarring fragments, much like day. The fragments seem like racing thoughts, some like broken memories. Almost like the husband was later piecing together the events after the attacks. His mind was racing but trying to focus on what was important, his wife. His most distinct memory that bothered me was him being able to smell the pentagon. I have smelt burning wood before but I guess this seems different to me somehow. Maybe knowing that the pentagon was deliberately destroyed for a hateful reason makes the smell a lot worse.

The end of the poem reminded me of the days after the tragedy. Hearing about the various people arguing about whether or not America deserved the attacks or if it was Bush’s fault was everywhere, one could not escape the conspiracy theories or arguments. The repeating images seemed to terrorize the survivors and make the rest of us numb to the events.

The last line of the poem is “America would still be free.” I like to think that the husband said this line as an opinion in response to the people he overheard arguing but I think he included this for reasons other than that. The line kind of has this double meaning. Not only could this be the patriotism felt throughout the country after September 11^th but the line could also be taken as the husband trying to remain grounded. September 11^th changed so much in America and the world that it would never be the same. The ramifications of the attacks would drastically affect people decades after. “America would still be free” is almost a testament to the few things that would remain the same. A comforting thought that might have eased some people’s minds when it seemed like the world was falling. But maybe this is the sentimentalist in me that hope the husband just wanted to comfort himself, his fellow citizens and his wife, but I like to think he really wanted to remind himself that tomorrow his freedoms would still be there. The last meaning that can be found in the sentence is that America would not be destroyed over this and though the twin towers are destroyed America isn’t.