Erasure from http://www.livingunderdrones.org/victim-stories/, and from http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/2003/n_9189/index1.html,
Two missiles fired at our hujra
we didn’t hear the missile and then it was there
when I gained consciousness,
there was a bandage on my eye.
I didn’t know what happened
I could only see from one.
When you start to think about the numbers
it doesn’t seem possible I’m alive.
When we got hit
my father’s body was scattered.
I am not able to walk anymore.
I felt the walls next to me crack and buckle on top of me.
Someone surfed the collapse and lived.
All I remember is a blast,
and I saw fire
before I lost consciousness.
The driver and I lost our legs.
You’re alive. What bad days do you have?
Everyone else feels like 9/11 was a long time ago.
I still feel like we are stuck on September 12, not really able to move beyond it.
There were lots of drones wandering over that day.
They were wandering all over.
No one realizes about the wind.
I felt something in my heart.
I was drinking tea when I found out.
You feel like throwing everything away,
because you feel death—
the body was put into a box.
I took it to my village.
At the time of Fajr, I took it to my home.
It was a combination
of me running
and getting blown down.
Every time they are in the air,
they can be heard.
We did not know that America existed.
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Erasure to my mind is such a useful tool for writing about tragedy. Here we hear the words of the people experiencing the terror and not a description, or artistic interpretation. This is very well done.
Anna–thank you. I could not presume to speak for these people. I thought it best that they speak for themselves.
Wow, this is truly intense. You’re words bring a painfully vivid image to the reader. Made my breathing quicken for a minute there
Gretchen, thank you. The erasure–using their words and voices, brought that out, I think.
Empathetic write…you became that person for awhile 😉
I did–and it wa not a great place to be.
oh heck…this moved me deeply…awesome last line and also the part with the wind in the middle
Yes, that last line made it all so much more increasingly sad….it reinforced the innocence of many who get caught in all this.
Thanks, Rowan. i agree. Those caught in the crossfire between factions are the true victims.
Claudia, thanks.
This is a viewpoint that needs to be understood…
I got a little inspired by your story.
The civilian victims
are just collateral damage
almost like Orwell said
the language overruled
so embedded newsreporters
can report of victory
and we can still enjoy
sunday breakfast comfort
listening to newsreports
and we can claim
we didn’t know
I really loved your writing here Susan.
Bjorn, thank you. Such a sad, sad thing.
Intense and powerful
Thanks, C.
so powerful! the striking reality of lines like,
‘I could only see from one.’
‘I am not able to walk anymore.’
‘because you feel death—’
you really walked around in this one. so well written.
Andrea, thank you. The words are all theirs. I just rearranged them.
Thanks Susan. You’re taking poetry into the realm of social activism again. Good work on this one. Alice
PS “Someone surfed the collapse and lived”. This is a line I heard early on in NPR’s reporting of the 9/11 attack. I could never find another person who recalled hearing this and it wasn’t repeated. This was one of the pieces that helped make my decision to stop listening to the radio. I’d already stopped television at that point. It was a profound piece of absurdity. No one could “surf the debris” and live. Thanks for repeating this here. It means a lot to me, personally.
Alice, thank you. I took the erasure from quotes from both 9/11 survivors and survivors of drone attacks. Wow. Cannot believe you remembered that so clearly.
Very creative work… you are a true artist.
Wow, Nelle, thank you!