I wanted to say something profound
about 9/11
on 9/11
but I didn’t have any ideas.
I was nowhere near the towers
when they fell.
I knew of no one
who would likely have been there.
I was home
alone
asleep
when the planes came
and the smoke billowed
and the people jumped
and the world changed.

I tried to become involved
(after waking up).
Previously housebound,
I jumped on my bike
and rode off to give blood
but they needed no one that day.
I saw the ash-covered victims
trekking north,
zombies on their way
to parts unknown.

I saw police and firefighters
even though
I was half a borough away.
I never got close to the carnage.
I lived nowhere near the attack.
I sat near a hospital for a while
in case there was anything I could do
but nothing came to mind.

I was present for the calamity
but mostly absent from it.
I felt awful
but removed.
I was a New Yorker
but not involved
in any significant way
on that day that everyone remembers
and so many experienced
far more profoundly than I.