Fall
by Edward Hirsch
Fall, falling, fallen. That's the way the season
Changes its tense in the long-haired maples
That dot the road; the veiny hand-shaped leaves
Redden on their branches (in a fiery competition
With the final remaining cardinals) and then
Begin to sidle and float through the air, at last
Settling into colorful layers carpeting the ground.
At twilight the light, too, is layered in the trees
In a season of odd, dusky congruences-a scarlet tanager
And the odor of burning leaves, a golden retriever
Loping down the center of a wide street and the sun
Setting behind smoke-filled trees in the distance,
A gap opening up in the treetops and a bruised cloud
Blamelessly filling the space with purples. Everything
Changes and moves in the split second between summer's
Sprawling past and winter's hard revision, one moment
Pulling out of the station according to schedule,
Another moment arriving on the next platform. It
Happens almost like clockwork: the leaves drift away
From their branches and gather slowly at our feet,
Sliding over our ankles, and the season begins moving
Around us even as its colorful weather moves us,
Even as it pulls us into its dusty, twilit pockets.
And every year there is a brief, startling moment
When we pause in the middle of a long walk home and
Suddenly feel something invisible and weightless
Touching our shoulders, sweeping down from the air:
It is the autumn wind pressing against our bodies;
It is the changing light of fall falling on us.
Ten Years After
"At times of crisis, the most patriotic act of all is the unyielding defense of civil liberties and the right to dissent," wrote historian Eric Foner days after the 9/11 attacks. Ten years later, leading Nation writers and thinkers engage in a conversation.
Key questions discussed include:
How can we as a country strike the right balance between security and liberty? How has the marketing of fear reshaped our politics, society, and culture? How should we rethink the concept of the War on Terror? If we accept, as The Nation has argued, that the most effective way to halt global terrorism involves cooperation with the global community, what frameworks do we envision and how can they be developed?
What might we, as a nation, do to prevent another 9/11?
How can we as a country strike the right balance between security and liberty? How has the marketing of fear reshaped our politics, society, and culture? How should we rethink the concept of the War on Terror? If we accept, as The Nation has argued, that the most effective way to halt global terrorism involves cooperation with the global community, what frameworks do we envision and how can they be developed?
What might we, as a nation, do to prevent another 9/11?
(95 Minutes)
3 comments:
no words
just memories
i agree with the 'marketing of fear' although i am not sure there is a way to prevent anything in this current world...but we can be followers of light & love...i think that is how we prevent it...and by electing leaders with integrity, intelligence, compassion and skills...xo
Ah, dear Yvette--me too--I was here in NYC and it was, well, a defining moment, as perception changing as was the Kennedy assassination moment, and the following assassination moments of those potent years....and, yes, the way past marketing would be to apply intelligence...but one has to become aware first that one is 'being' manipulated by marketing. However, I don't think electing leaders who meet (or seem to meet) our criteria for fashioning a better world is quite the solution we might wish for...but becoming the leaders living that better world view might be helpful. Unfortunately, everyone has an agenda and needs, worldwide, and the priorities we might ascribe for ourselves (ie-peace and prosperity) might be quite different from another persons priorities (ie-an arms dealer). There is much we can not control, and much that was in place long before we were even born. But we can go about our lives promoting what we feel is best for us, and for the earth. it's just that there will always be someone out there who sees it all differently.
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