Ground Zero Poem: Hotel Room View

Photo By Frances Shani Parker

Like many others, I felt compelled to visit Ground Zero in New York City after the September 11, 2001 terrorists’ attacks on the World Trade Center. I requested a hotel room with a view overlooking the excavation. An aura of heartache permeated the air, while numerous memorial displays comforted those who sought healing. After taking this picture, I wrote these poetic reflections:

Ground Zero

Scattered images of causalities,

thousands of love notes

blanket a former battlefield.

Whispered memories,

flowered tributes coax

closure of doors left ajar by trauma.

From my hotel window, I watch               

the Ground Zero real-time movie

of a 21st century grave excavation

where the World Trade Center

stood and fell, a kindling target

for terrorists’ fires.

Hills with human remains

transport like treasures

to a Staten Island landfill.

Conveyor trucks beep

warning chants of danger

to a world in global doom denial.

I view the sixteen-acre hole

in the heart of a grieving nation,

listen to victims’ voices

share their haunting horror:

“We fought to live and love

trapped in a fatal inferno,

marooned in a tomb of ruins.

We nursed at the breast of fear

until our spirits were free.”

© 2002 Frances Shani Parker

From Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes

Frances Shani Parker, Author

Becoming Dead Right: A Hospice Volunteer in Urban Nursing Homes is available in paperback and e-book editions at many booksellers in America and other countries.
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