Multi-voice poem on terrorism...

Throughout this month, I will be posting excerpts of my lengthy paper "The War on Terror and the Fire Paradox", as mentioned in this post. Here is one such excerpt... A multi-voice poem relating to the psychological and personal effects of terror.

'For a minute there, I lost myself'
They attack
I am scared
My government will protect me,
They say.

He felt scared
He felt afraid.
How could his great country,
The most powerful on the face of this heavenly earth,
Be attacked; brought to its knees?

Will I be next?
Will the terrorists kill me?
Why do they hate us?

Who is really threatening my way of life?
Is it the government, those claiming to fight the terrorists;
The terrorists themselves, the evil;
Or me —
Could it be me?
Could I be caving in to the politics of fear?

If he knew fear,
He knew irrationality.
He knew terror,
He knows terror.

In the wake of the attack,
I lost my rationality
I lost my mind,
I was scared
I let fear rule me.
I let the government rule me,
Using my fear of the terrorists and creating their own.
For a minute there, I lost myself.*


* The climactic point of the Radiohead song, "Karma Police".
See also "Why are we obsessed with terrorism?"