Grim Times, Courageous Times,
Reflexive Times, Mourning Times,
The New York Times



September eleven,
year 2001,
New York City.
World Trade Center
is no more.
Worst terrorist attack
of the new millennium.
so far…

Slaughter of thousands
of innocent victims.
Guilty only
of living and working
in New York.

Ground Zero
total devastation!
Tears for those
whose lives were lost,
and tears for those
whose heart was shattered.
Tears for those
who continue
To suffer.

Acts of heroism
beyond the call of duty.
Many lost their lives
trying to save others.

We must not focus
so much
on the media’s rousing chant chorusing politicians:
“The terrorists attacked us because of our Democratic System
and the American way of life.”

Making us believe that
they attack our religious beliefs
and our way of life
is wrong.

The terrorist attack was not on the civilian passengers of the planes used for the killing,
or those working at the
World Trade Center,
nor the American Democracy,
all of them, innocent bystanders.
The attack was wrong!

The attack was
on the Word Trade Center,
heart of the capitalist world,
world, that to help itself
will leave hundreds of thousands
of workers unemployed
while giving the airlines
billions in aid;
on the Pentagon,
heart of the military, strong arm
of the United States.

The devastating effects
of this attack
reach far beyond
the horizon of the terrible crater.

Hundreds of thousands
of unemployed humanity
suffering the economic repercussions
of companies leaving the region,
downsizing to cut the losses,
part of which
the government will bail out.

They will take tax-payer’s money
out of much needed services
of people’s welfare and education.
While proclaiming publicly
of the generous aid
to victims.
Other victims of the attack
on the World Trade Center.

Politicians tell us
we will be better on the rebound.
This will cost
the sacrifice of unnamed victims
to the bottom line.

We are reeling
under a blow
so low
so cowardly,
that our minds
refuse to admit it.
It is murder
of the worst kind.
Premeditated, cold-blooded,
calculated, vile.

Now, who will be the victims
of corporate revival,
how many more victims
of this senseless crime.

Many are already paying
for being of the same race
as the terrorists,
and many more shall perish
in the quest
for revenge.

This is a crime
of man against man,
of the sounds of the flyers
and the whistling of the bombs
raining death on us,
of the knocking on our doors of
Gestapo and KGB
seeking to exterminate us all
as if we were
an infestation of roaches.

The systematic extermination
of the Indian spirit,
of human slaves
to a growing system,
and Hiroshima
up in a cloud of death.



Covering the tropics
of Vietnam
with NAPALM
can always be justified
in the guise of fighting communism.
While the rape
of the Americas
was done in the name of God and king.

Rape no more.
Hurt no more.
Kill no more.

In the name of what is
that we live on this planet,
of life in this time,
this place,
this world.

Do no more than
the good
for all humankind,
for all of
Earth,
for all of life.

Amen


(c) Roberto Isaza
December 30, 2001