I was moved by the poem “Alabanza”
which I had to look up on my Spanish dictionary to be sure what was the meaning.
Roughly it means “in praise”. This poem to me represents the diversity of the
victims of 911. These people in the poem
were working people. They did not have executive jobs with big pay checks just people
trying to make ends meet. “Ecuador, Mexico. Republica Dominicana, Haiti, Yemen,
Ghana, Bangladesh.” (Expada 18-19). These
working people might have been immigrants coming to America for a better
life. They had no political agenda or
power to control America’s policy toward the Middle East. Some of the restaurant employees might have
been Muslim too. The last stanza where
the smoke from the towers and smoke from Kabul is powerful. The idea that the
Muslim and Americans can learn from one another. It is the least powerful
people who suffer both in America and Afghanistan. Alabanza to all people!!
“The World Trade Center” poem talks
about the transformation of a universally agreed ugly building and turns it
into a symbol of America. People begin
to appreciate its uniqueness and associate it with New York. It is no longer
viewed as architectural monstrosity. “My whole attitude toward the World Trade
Center Changed overnight. I began to like the way.” (Lehman 16-17). This all
happened because of the World trade bombing.
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