Eleven years from 9/11

I wrote this villanelle a few weeks after 9-11. At the time we lived around Ramstein AFB. Around 4 a.m. every morning jets from the base would leave to attack Afghanistan. As they left the base, the jets would shake the houses in our village near the base. I will never forget the fear.

Thundering at Daybreak

As cold sweat pours from my body, I wake

to dark…