Fun With Words

NJ City covers Putin’s name on Tear Drop 9/11 memorial

Looking back on the 21^st year since 9/11, I came across this interesting news tidbit: “In support of Ukraine, on March 14 2022, Bayonne, NJ covered Putin’s name on the Tear Drop 9/11 Memorial”.
The Tear Drop 9/11 Memorial is an impressive monument inscribed with the names of the 9/11 victims and was a gift from the people of Russia to the US in 2005.
Its official name is “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism”, and is made of stone by Russian artist Zurab Tsereteli. The monument is located at the end of the former Military Ocean Terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
The mayor of Bayonne, Jimmy Davis, directed Tommy Cotter, the city’s director of public works, to cover Putin’s name on two plaques, where it appears in both English and Cryllic. “Basically what’s happening in Ukraine right now is like a form of terrorism, the invasion of that country,” Cotter told NBC New York news.
 “We will never take down this monument,” Mayor Davis said in a statement posted to social media. “We have, however, have taken steps to cover the name of Putin, due to his recent actions against the people of Ukraine.”
In my opinion, this was the best way that the people of Bayonne could honor not only the 9/11 victims inscribed upon this memorial but also all those who have died in Ukraine due to Putin’s war.

Memories of Terror Return

The Ukrainian war continues. Watching the images of destruction the nightly news I can’t help but make the comparison with the destruction of the World Trade Center 21 years ago by another terrorist group. This poem reflects my state of mind as we come closer to Sept 11 2022.
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Memories of Terror Return
                             2022 Leona M Seufert
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Time and space coalesce
Like layers in a collage
Which we can’t pry apart.
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Thousands of minutes have passed.
And Thousands of miles from here
The images seen are doppelgangers.
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Destruction in America years ago
Reflected today in Ukraine.
We can’t run away from it.
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Memories of terror return
PTSD rears its ugly head.
Your grief, is our grief.
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We know your pain
We feel your loss
Another ground zero…of the soul.
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Will it ever end?
Will the rubble stop falling?
Life implodes today like it did yesterday.
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Stone by stone Ground Zero was rebuilt.
But your pile grows ever higher…
“Once again we mourn the dead.
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To read more of my poetry and see the 21 years of Ground Zero from destruction of the World Trade Center to today, visit my World Trade Center Journal.