In Which We Pause

 

Pause for September 11

Don’t say – remember.

Some of our remembers

are complicated

by what was happening to us

and some of us do not remember

because we are too young.

Pause for September 11.

Don’t say – pray.

Some of us want to pray

about the fires ravaging the west,

the terrible losses

of the coronavirus pandemic,

and some want to assign God

a personal agenda

of the first two amendments,

immigration, or masks.

Pause for September 11.

Don’t say – be a patriot.

That has too many meanings,

mostly full of

this-is-the-right-way

and the rest of you are wrong

and can also be confused

with a football team, TV show,

or surface-to-air missile.

Just pause for September 11.

In 2001 particular people died.

People who helped continue to die.

People died in acts

of response or retaliation.

People who live still grieve.

People who live

try to make the world better

because of that day.

Pause.

-Rev. Maren Tirabassi