How to remember 9/11?

...When a plane explodes into the building
Where he works and, as he watches,
His entire building collapses. (Robert Cording at How a Poem Happens)

How does one appropriately stop and remember 9/11? Robert Cording's brilliant poem, Life Changes, is an apt place to start.

This work would be a fine example for students to see how imagery and specific details reach beyond the page and move us toward some common experience....like remembering 9/11. And the poem has a deceptive ease to it, something that makes entering its world effortless.

How does writing come into being?

At yesterday's Barry Lane Blitz (brought to you by the Red River Valley Writing Project) there was discussion about glimpsing into the world of work for writers. (Something Lane suggests)

Here are two places to do so:

How A Poem Happens is a terrific blog. The premise is ostensibly simple: publish a poem and ask the poet who wrote it a series of questions.....the same questions for every poet. The result is a lively, often revealing look at how poems happen.

The Paris Review is one of the preeminent literary magazines of our times, known for its interviews. Many of those can be read online. To do so, click here. At the site, you can read an interview with Truman Capote and look at one of his manuscript pages. And you can read The Paris Review blog. (though it doesn't seem to provide much of a glimpse into the workings of writing)