9/11 Poem Response

(CROSS-POSTED FROM MOODLE -- 3/6/11, 23:13)

My first thought upon finishing "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" is that Zagajewski never mentions how the world is mutilated -- the second thought was that I usually see the negatives (the exiles whose homes are overrun, for example) rather than the positives, perhaps more of an optimist/pessimist dichotomy than Zagajewski would have preferred.

In "Alabanza," coming to the poem with a knowledge of baseball history, the juxtaposition of the 9/11 airplane with Roberto Clemente's DC-7 in 1972 struck me. Clemente was flying to Nicaragua for relief efforts after an earthquake; his plane went down and all on board were killed, but it had no effect on the intended recipient. The attackers of September 11 knew into what they were getting, but the recipients had no clue what was to come.

"Dropping Leaflets" feels almost more like a collection of phrases than a more traditional poem; I think that enhances its mood, as especially in moments of crisis but often in the rest of our life as well we think not in long chains but short bursts. Particularly in the aftermath of 9/11 as I recall it, the only length to be seen was the path of those who (figuratively speaking) ran around in circles screaming.