1 Both “T.S.A” by Amit Majmudar and “September 12, 2001” by X.J Kennedy reflect how 9/11 negatively affected people differently. “September 12, 2001” by X. J Kennedy was written past the 9/11 attacks and tells the story of a young couple experiencing tragedy that would change their lives. Another post 9/11 poem “T.S.A” by Amit Majmudar gives the perspective of a young Muslim man facing racial profiling through airport security. Regardless of perspective, each poem has shown a negative change affecting regular people's lives.
2 People’s normality and everyday innocence was shook directly after the 9/11 attacks. In “September 12, 2001” by X.J Kennedy it was introduced with a horrifying image. The first stanza began with two choices both leading to death, “choosing between a fireball/and to jump holding hands” (Kennedy 3-4). Shortly after the first stanza there was a sharp climax, it began with a couple waking up to the horrors introduced in the first stanza. This couple seemed to have a great morning within their normal life until “we open eyelids on our pitiful share of time” (Kennedy 9). The speaker was referring to the film image from the first stanza, as one couple is waking up to a perfect life another is hurling out of a building to their death. The overall theme shows how innocence can be stripped, and in a split
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In “T.S.A” it appears that the mood of airport security profiles people of different color or background. The mood affects the speaker who appears to be a well educated upper middle class citizen. He refers to “med school” and “double partners” (Majmudar 21), clearly he was in medical school and was a tennis athlete. However when in the airport none of that matters, to airport security he is just another “goateed other” (Majmudar 24). Essentially the speaker is saying based off of skin color or facial hair that’s enough to deem a person as a potential