Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, poets who believe in the value of poem-making and the power of word-art in the face of calamity and horror have heeded the imperative expressed by Poetry Guide Bob Holman in his letter of September 12, 2001: “Don’t withdraw. Use words.” Many fine poets have answered our calls to send poems for our anthology of “Poems After the Attack,” and to commemorate the anniversary each September we republish the entire collection.
This anthology comes to you accompanied by the same wish it has carried since we first posted it: In your grief, anger, consternation, confusion or resolve, we hope these poems offer you comfort, clarity or grace....
- Daniel Moore (Abd al-Hayy), “A Little Ramshackle Shack”
- Matthew Abuelo, “Upon 9/11”
- Adam, “If Only”
- Ken Adams aka Dudley Appleton, “911”
- Joe Aimone, “The W After”
- Jeffrey Alfier, “Anecdote of Antiquity” and “The Coelacanth (Osama bin Laden)”
- Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, “WTC 9/11”
- Paula Bardell, “Silence (over Manhattan)”
- Tony Beyer, “In the Wake of America”
- Michael Brett, “Tomorrow”
- Tony Brown, “Dispatch from the Home Front: Halloween 2001”
- Michael R. Burch, “Because Her Heart Is Tender”
- Penny Cagan, “September Eleventh”
- Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Palestine”
- David Cochrane, “Firefighter's Prayer”
- Jim Cohn, “Ghost Dance”
- Julie Craig, “Before and After”
- Peter Desmond, “Good Morning, Uzbekistan!”
- Denis Dunn, “When the Epic Returns”
- Jesse Glass, “down”
- JD Goetz, “9/11/02”
- jj goss, “Aftermath of 9-11”
- Dorothea Grossman, “Ruins”
- Marj Hahne, “Remembrance” and “A New York Winter”
- Mary Hamrick, “An American Soldier”
- Elizabeth Harrington, “Normally”
- Judyth Hill, “Wage Peace”
- Michael Hillmer, “The Lights That Have Vanished”
- Bob Holman, “Cement Cloud”
- Larry Jaffe, “Will It Be Heard” and “5000 Souls Leaving”
- Karen Karpowich, “In Central Park”
- Eliot Katz, “When the Skyline Crumbles”
- John Kissingford, “September 12” and “Image”
- Roland Legiardi-Laura, “Poem for Sophie, Daisy, Bob & Elizabeth”
- Linda Lerner, “Haywire”
- Anne MacNaughton, “The Yodeller” and “Trade Center”
- Doug McClellan, “Day One”
- Wynne Mercado, “Collapse”
- Pete Mullineaux, “Keeping Terrorists at Bay”
- John Mulrooney, “Lines After Bidart While Watching Television”
- Anthony Nannetti, “Nine 12”
- Paul E. Nelson, “No Time For Dreamers”
- Alexandra Oliver, “The Smell of Trouble”
- Hudson Owen, “Ground Zero”
- Shann Palmer, “Last Dance”
- Shann Palmer, “On the Ninety-Ninth Floor”
- Steve Potter, “The Beautiful World in Ruins”
- Christina Querrer, “This Is What I Know” and “Dry Season”
- Greg Rogers, “September Blues”
- Bob Rosenthal, “Knock Three Times”
- Ruth Sabath Rosenthal, “What to Make of Beleaguered Possibility”
- Larry Sawyer, “Emperor Avalanche”
- Skip Shea, “Songs of Mourning”
- Rick Sheeley, “2270*”
- Margery Snyder, “Falling Through Air”
- Richard Springler, “What”
- David Stewart, “Garments of Fire”
- Robert Sward, “Report from the Front”
- Patti Tana, “Because” and “We Breathed You In”
- Edwin Torres, “I Saw You Empire State Building”
- Duane Tucker, “Revenge (911 Series)”
- Victoria Vasquez, “Groundswell of the Broken”
- Joyce Wakefield, “Endangered Species”
- Terry E. Wilbur, “Johnny-Boy”
- Kaimana Wolff, “Thursday (92nd Floor, WTC, 9-11-01)” and “In the Dryer (99th Floor, WTC, 9-11-01)”
- Emily XYZ, Atta Poem
- Old poems worth rereading in dark days
- From the poets in our Forum
- More from the poets in our Forum
