The poem that I enjoyed the most from Staceyann Chin’s “Crossfire” was September in New York. This poem discusses the impact that 9/11 had on New York citizens and the rest of the world. This poem really resonates with me because of my origin and identity as a New Yorker. Even though I was still a baby when 9/11 happened, as I grew up and was forced to take a moment of silence or learn about it in history class, I started to learn the impact that it had on Americans. Reading this poem, I also realize just how negatively it effected not just New York and America but the rest of the world. When I read this poem, I feel like I am being put into Staceyann’s shoes and I can understand what living through 9/11 was like from the perspective of an adult living in New York at that time. After reading this poem, I start to remember what my life was like, growing up in a post 9/11 world. I remember how I needed to(and still need to) remove my shoes, backpacks and jackets every time I wanted to catch a plane going somewhere. I can’t remember a time before the “war on terror” because I had always grown up hearing about it. Now that I read this poem, I can’t help but feel a little angry and disappointed over how politicians turned into snake oil salesman, trying to sell the American people on why a war with Iraq was needed. I am angry over how casual the president was to send over boys who had just become adults to fight and die overseas in a war that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. I feel like I shouldn’t be angry but I am. And the only thing I can do is to “never forget”.
When we’re a baby, we had no clue what happened on 9/11. But as years passing on by when we’re in school and what not, those people who were at that tower the time the plane crashed into had everybody left crying. I get why you’re feeling a bit angry over this tragic event because sending a war to our hometown was stupid. It effected us negativity that people who’s working there before the plane crash are now gone.