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I recall, Trevor, very vividly, the night of the Birmingham pub bombings, rather particularly because some friends and I had only changed plans to meet in one of the bombed pubs at the time only the day before. Or a friend of mine who was in Jerusalem and was pushed past in a bus queue and as a result didn't board a bus which she saw explode as it drew away up the top of a hill. I think Frank's quotation of Blake is exactly right. Best Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: "Trevor Joyce" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:38 PM Subject: Re: US Tragedy > Here in Cork, Ireland, I happened to be watching a 24-hour news channel > when the reports started coming in, and watched disbelievingly the live > footage as the second tower was hit. I remember my reaction on seeing the > second and third car bombs go off in Dublin, in the early seventies, one of > them on a street I should have been walking down. I felt the same sense of > helplessness and disgust. > > Frank's echoing of Blake displays a compassion which I expect many > individual poets will feel, but I know that I, for one, would not find it > possible to rally round any politicians or factions on either side of these > actions. Already, I despair on hearing a former diplomat concentrating on > how these attacks are 'cowardly' and an attack on all civilization and > democracy. While I don't see how a suicide bomber can be described as > 'cowardly', neither do I see how either the cowardly or the courageous is > any guarantor of right. > > Nobody appropriates my response, or can claim to speak for me at times like > this. I'm sick of the dishonesty that passes for diplomacy in our > democracies. Grief and compassion strike me as the only appropriate > response right now. > > Trevor Joyce > > >Thank you, Frank, for your kindness. > > > >Yes, it is an attack - and on more than the New York targets. Camp > >David, the Presidential Retreat in Maryland, was targeted by a > >hijacked plane. > > > >This day in American history will be cited as another Pearl Harbor. > > > >USA will rally around President Bush. Will the poetry community? > > > >Richard Dillon > > > > > > > > > >>I awoke to a phone call from my mother telling me that the USA was under > >>terrorist attack. Astonished I turned on my television in time to watch > >>one of the towers (100 stories) of the World Trade Center in New York > >>City collapse as its twin burns. > >> > >>The Pentagon in Washington, DC, burns at this moment too. > >> > >>Can I see anothers woe, > >>And not be in sorrow too. > >>Can I see anothers grief, > >>And not seek for kind relief. > >> > >>-- William Blake > >> > >>*************** > >>Frank Parker > >>[log in to unmask] > >>http://now.at/frankshome > > > > > >-- >