Come forth, pain made flesh
birthed from a dust-choked subway tunnel
into fractured twilight. Concrete particles
mask the dimmed autumnal sunlight.

Rise like a mythic bird from depressive ashes,
try to deny the rubble only hoped imagined.
Shrouded in smoke, an eternal flame of ignited jet fuel
casts its pall: ominous remains of The Day.

Watch transfixed as if looking upon a flickering screen
in shades of gray, while honor bound brothers search
for their own in this the canyon
that has become their mausoleum, their monument.

Echoes from a long-silenced bagpipe
feel to moan a vibration through the sternum.
Define this foreign sorrow: cloak it, couch it, deify it:
But it requires no naming, only remembrance.

Burning Word went live 01/01/01 at 01:01:01, marking a new direction for online publisher Erik Deerly. The goal was to build a literary community where editors, writers and readers could work together in a collaborative spirit to create what they wanted the non-profit site to become. In eighteen months BW has published hundreds of fantastic submissions and forum posts by authors ranging from child prodigies to Pulitzer nominees. BW recently pickup up a winner's trophy at the prestigious SXSW Interactive national awards, in the category of "content." A large collection of poetry and fiction, accompanied by a dash of creative non-fiction, personal essay and stream-of-(un)consciousness make Burning Word a recipe to please most every reader's pallet.