To the Editor:

I recently received an email from Chuck Person with subject line “It’s that terrible time again.” Chuck is a local artist, and he and I were paired three years ago in the “LBI Painted Poetry III” exhibit at the LBI library.

I wrote an ekphrastic poem, “Sapere Aude,” inspired by Chuck’s painting, “She Watched.” The painting came first. It was Chuck’s meditation on 9/11. When I wrote the poem I had never met Chuck, nor did I speak with him during the time I was writing the poem.

It was not an easy poem to write. I dragged my feet. I didn’t want to have to feel or think about 9/11, its meaning or aftermath. It took me all of June and half of July to arrive at the last stanza.

September 11, 2020