This Connection of Everyone with Lungs
Juliana Spahr’s poetry is different than from any other poetry I’ve ever studied before in an English class. I’m used to reading lyric poetry, such as Dulce Et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, which Professor Luger used as an example in class. Reading the first poem in the book, without even looking at the title, it was clear that Spahr was writing about 9/11. The whole idea of everyone being connected to each other portrayed 9/11 as everyone in the World Trade Center, when the planes crashed into it, experienced the same thing: the same fear about what was going to happen to them, the same panic about what they were supposed to do next and the same sadness knowing that what started off as a regular Tuesday, would end in a tragedy.
The last line of the poem is one that really resonated with me: “how lovely and how doomed this connection of everyone with lungs.” In relation to 9/11, the connection amongst the people who died and were injured because of the events of that day is devastating. Not even just 9/11, any war, natural disaster or tragic event in general. However, the idea of having something in common with those around you and being connected to one another can also be soothing and relieving, as you know you always have someone to relate to.
This poem also relates to the theme of memory, which we’ve discussed a lot throughout this year in our ASTU class. Spahr, in her writing, reminds us of what an upsetting day 9/11 was:
“There is space, an uneven space, made by this pattern of bodies”
“This space goes in and out of everyone’s bodies”
Reading these lines makes me picture all of the people who lost their lives on 9/11; the “pattern of bodies” left on the ground, in the rubble after the crash, and all that was left was space.