“This Connection of Everyone with Lungs”
On September 11, 2001, everyone was watching from the outside. In the poem “This Connection of Everyone with Lungs” by Juliana Spahr, it attempts to change the reader’s perspective of viewing the planet as unsettling after what happened on 9/11. Everyone was watching the incident from their televisions or radios and it engages the idea that “There are these things: / cells, the movement of cells and the division of cells” (1-2). Spahr is making a connection and explaining that there is another perspective. She implies that human cells, the terrorist, and the prison, so everyone with lungs, are all responsible for politics and our actions and reactions. For example, the media’s reaction. She is connecting all the lost to each other and with the people who are still alive. Every person on the planet witnessed it no matter which position they were in, and like others, Spahr seems to struggle with the amount of death that happens in the world. We are all connected. In the poem, there is an incredible amount of repetition. The repetition makes it difficult to read, but is significant for the reason that 9/11 was difficult to read or hear about as well. The repeating of certain phrases drills their importance into our heads. During all these moments, every person with lungs breathes the same space in and out, and this shows that we are all connected.