Twin Towers Quotes

“She was born under the sign of Gemini. And that stands for the good and evil twin. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both hiding and residing inside her heart. Her good twin was not bad at all. But her evil twin was even better, and showed up to be way too fatal!”
― Ana Claudia Antunes, Mysterious Murder of Marilyn Monroe

“I know it's impossible. But I know I'll do it!”
― Philippe Petit, To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers

“I breathed in the night air that was or was not laced with anachronistic blossoms and felt the small thrill I always felt to a lesser or greater degree when I looked at Manhattan’s skyline and the innumerable illuminated windows and the liquid sapphire and ruby of traffic on the FDR Drive and the present absence of the towers.”
― Ben Lerner, 10:04

“When I see three oranges, I juggle; when I see two towers, I walk!”
― Philippe Petit, To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers

“When the towers again twin-tickle the clouds, I offer to walk again, to be the expression of the builder's collective voice. Together, we will rejoice in an aerial song of victory. I will carry my life across the wire, as your life, as all our lives, past, present, and future -the lives lost, the lives welcomed since.
we can overcome.”
― Philippe Petit, To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers

“The jet-fuel smell thick in the air, the flame and smoke surrounding you, you can only get to 011 and that's enough to make you foreign, to make you other, to make you Mexican. You take out your wallet and put an ID between your teeth so they can find you when it all collapses. Your flesh may burn but your teeth will remain and the ID will be there. It's a fake ID. Nobody will ever know you died. Nobody will ever know you lived.”
― Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans

“It cannot be done all at once. To overpower vertigo - the keeper of the abyss- one must tame it, cautiously.”
― Philippe Petit

“My destiny no longer has me conquering the highest toowers in the world, but rather the void they protect.
This cannot be measured.”
― Philippe Petit, To Reach the Clouds: My High Wire Walk Between the Twin Towers

“I smelled war on the horizon, with more deaths and trouble to come"
Bombing of the Twin Towers
From Rape of a Nation by Sara Niles”
― Sara Niles

“Ground Zero by Stewart Stafford

At the rim of the abyss,
Among the malignant smoking rubble,
And the plane and body parts,
The traumatised rediscovered their purpose.

In a moonscape of fallen pride, identity, and ambition,
The anonymous saved something of the unsalvageable,
Searchers with sandwiches and coffee in the toxic dust,
Manna from Good Samaritans with unconditional gratitude.

As the lungs struggled to take in air,
The hearts of each participant enlarged,
And found shelter in non-partisan synergy,
Becoming a family of former strangers.

The lesson of the lost was to stay loving and open-hearted,
Not turn away and isolate from life and others,
Even when the scars became unbearable,
Their stolen affection remained a towering beacon from the ruins.

© Stewart Stafford, 2021. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“Through a trick lighting technique
the skyline was made and faded
with the care of a pointillist—
maybe aiding us to think nothing was
missing. We traded verbs

about what was happening
in the metropolis, realizing,
in the scorched plum of dusk,
actual human infinity was occurring
on an island before us....”
― Kristen Henderson, Of My Maiden Smoking

“Metaphorically, tall buildings are people standing erect. As each [NY twin] tower fell, it became a body falling. We are not consciously aware of the metaphorical images, but they are part of the power and the horror we experience when we see them.”
― George Lakoff, Don't Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate: The Essential Guide for Progressives

“You've probably seen him. The photograph shows a tiny man in a white shirt and dark pants, diving head first down the slick steel side of the building. Next to that gigantic building, he's just a small, dark squiggle, and at first you think he's a piece of lint or dust on the camera lens that got onto the picture by mistake. It's only when you look closely that you understand. The squiggle is human. A time being. A life. His arms are next to his body and his one knee is bent, like he's doing an Irish jig, only upside down. It's all wrong. He shouldn't be dancing. He shouldn't be there at all.”
― Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

“The Edge of Reason by Stewart Stafford

I do not want to die or take my own life,
I cling to the outside of skyscraper metal,
Thick, choking smoke rakes my shoulder,
Scorching flames lash my back and legs.

I showered, dressed and went to work,
I arrived early, said hello, found my desk,
Then the building shifted, smiles faded,
Everything changed, and here we are.

God, please take me quickly, I beg you,
Bless my loved ones, I hope they understand,
A Rorschach test for shocked rubberneckers,
I let the air pressure suck me out and drop.

The initial relief of vacating impossibility,
Turns to violent buffeting in wind currents,
Clothes ripped off as I spin, falling faster,
Crowds point, the ground rushes towards me.

© 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford