11/11/1918
12/07/1941
11/22/1963
09/11/2001
catching children
before they fall from cliffs
can be tiresome
perhaps ‘tis our mission
to prevent the fall
but
we fail
slashed down by
numbers and slashes
09/11/2001
slashes, numbers
blood, sweat, and tears
mangled memories and fears
if they could only
play longer
in fields of rye
but we must blink an eye
then they grow grievances
not wings,
fall from friendly fields
and from our sight
and make the plunge
into the fiery night
if only numbers and slashes would not prevail…
title is reference to a story by J D Salinger and there are also allusions to his writing in the poem