LUCILLE CLIFTON, Former Poet Laureate Of Maryland: My name is Lucille Clifton. I was having lunch at Saint Mary's College in Maryland on September 11, when I watched on television the devastation of the Twin Towers. And I thought a lot about that and about the fact that my eldest daughter had, had a new baby girl five days before, and about love and continuing and fear and hope. And this poem is a reaction to those thoughts and feelings. The poem is called "September's Song: A Poem in Seven Days." And I would like to read two days in the poem.
Tuesday
thunder and lightning and our world
is another place no day
will ever be the same no blood
untouched
they know this storm in otherwheres
israel ireland palestine
but God has blessed America
we sing
and God has blessed America
to learn that no one is exempt
the world is one all fear
is one all life all death
all one
Sunday Morning for bailey
the st. marys river flows
as if nothing has happened
i watch it with my coffee
afraid and sad as are we all
so many ones to hate and i
cursed with long memory
cursed with the desire to understand
have never been good at hating
now this new granddaughter
born into a violent world
as if nothing has happened
and i am consumed with love
for all of it
the everydayness of bravery
of hate of fear of tragedy
of death and birth and hope
true as this river
and especially with love
bailey fredrica clifton goin
for you
