Nine Twelve

[lyrycsyntyme]

nearly every story seems to comment
on a post nine eleven world
so let me take a moment
to talk about nine twelve

everyone is talking about the day after tomorrow
when often it seems tomorrow never comes
my brother has a muslim friend named Unis
since around the time he was ten or twelve

and Unis got a knock on the front door in the shape of a kick down
and after that he was detained for what?
an imam where he was attending mosque was being questioned
who, surprise surprise, did nothing

yes, everyone is talking about the day after tomorrow
when often it seems tomorrow never comes
my friend Jasons' father was walking along a beach
when around the time of eleven or twelve

noon he got a knock on the head as teens came to kick him 'round
and with each kick they screamed at him what?
called him a murderer as they beat an elder citizen
who, surprise surprise, did nothing

and yea, here's the kicker
he wasn't even arabic or muslim
instead a catholic indian and these mindfucked pricks couldn't tell the difference
nursed by their parents:
television

nearly every story seems to comment
on a post nine eleven world
so let me take a moment
to talk about nine twelve

everybody is talking about the day after tomorrow
when often it seems tomorrow never comes
so let me take a moment
to talk about nine twelve

so in came two thousand and two, two thousand and three
violence and murder against muslims increased
as republicans and democrats took their swings
for wealth at a human-shaped pinyatta overseas

unable to forget the day that was hard for alot of hearts
but alot was revealed in the american response
seems too many hearts got hard
and death-begets-death is a torch we should've refused to pass on

but, instead it's a torch that goes around the world
round and round
round and round
the world turns
in a post nine eleven world
so let me take a moment
to talk about nine twelve


copyright John alan Fessel

[jeannerené]

OK .... I hope you stick around here ... because we need your poetry!

A thoughtful and oh so relevant work .... Thank you for posting.

My experience nine twelve .... I'm just about home from work ... on a day we did little work, but mostly talking and crying. I live around the corner from a middle school which lets out just about the time I get home. Of course emotions and tension are high on 9/12 ... but as I'm driving past the school there is a small pick-up parked on the street ... older brother(s) waiting to pick up their sister or borther and in the back of the pick-up is a sign "Nuke the whole middle-east." This would be terrible in any neighborhood ...terrible to be displayed anywhere ... but I happen to live in a neighborhood with many neighbors of middle-eastern heritage and I can presume also of the Islam faith. I don't think I need to explain my dismay at the sight of this sign.

I got home and called the school immediately and told them what was outside ...

So you poem very much speaks to what I experience immediately afterward ...

There is much mistrust ... misunderstandings ... between us all ...

... a favorite quote that I try often to remind myself of:

"Forgiveness and reconciliation are not just ethereal, spiritual, other-worldly
activities. They have to do with the real world. They are realpolitik, because
in a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no future." ~ Rev. Desmond Tutu