[Ann Drysdale]

An American friend was throwing out a lot of stuff and gave me a memorial edition of a glossy magazine. It commemorated the disaster and heroism of "nine-eleven". All the editorial content was created accordingly but the advertisements, placed and paid-for, remained exactly where they were. I tried to make a poem from what I found but thought it more to the sick and sorry point that they should all stay as I found them. Is this a Found Poem?

Facing Pages.

September 24th 2001

Commemorative Editorial. The Day that Shook America.
Advertising copy, bought, placed and paid-for.

Front cover. Yellow, black, Flight 175. South Tower. Smoke.
Inside front cover, the more you know about your health, the healthier you’ll be.
Page one. Silver, blue. Twin towers. Liberty.
One-through-twenty. Faces weeping, blood, fear. Sheer human effort.
26. Collapse of South Tower...
27. Bra. Playtex. 18-hour sensation. Supports your sides like never before.
30. Sobbing survivors...
31. He knows just how to give me goose bumps. Diet Coke.
32. Named man kneeling, aghast...
33. We were there when you were a child of the 60’s. State Farm. There for life.
36. Firefighters, heroes, grief...
37. Wherehouse DVD. Schwarzenegger. Last Action Hero.
42. Women covered in dust, running, each holding a terrified child...
43. Why just wash away the day when you can wash away the years? Olay.
45. “Welcome to Manhattan”, running, running, running over Brooklyn Bridge...
46. Lipstick. Lipgloss. Twin products standing tall. Side by side. Cover Girl. Wow!
56. Pentagon employees carry the injured across the street...
57. I didn’t know acid reflux could wear away the lining of my esophagus. Nexium.
64. Bush returns to the capital. “Terrorism against our nation will not stand”...
65. It’s a day to giggle. And a day for Hormel Pepperoni.

Last page. A Banner Yet Waves. Rescue workers hoist the stars and stripes “In an echo of Iwo Jima".
Inside back over. More powerful than ever. Toyota Camry. Get the Feeling.

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