Today marks the 24th anniversary of the events of September 11, 2001, in which a terror attack led by hijackers associated with Islamist group al-Qaeda killed 2,977 people across New York City (World Trade Center), Washington D.C. (Pentagon), and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It was–and still is–the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

To remember the fallen, as well as to reflect on the post-9/11 world we all live in, here are some select poems I found on poetryfoundation.com that talk about 9/ 11.

Searchers D. Nurkse We gave our dogs a button to sniff, or a tissue, and they bounded off confident in their training, in the power of their senses to recreate the body, but after eighteen hours in rubble where even steel was pulverized they curled on themselves and stared up at us and in their soft huge eyes we saw mirrored the longing for death: then we had to beg a stranger to be a victim and crouch behind a girder, and let the dogs discover him and tug him proudly, with suppressed yaps, back to Command and the rows of empty triage tables. But who will hide from us? Who will keep digging for us here in the cloud of ashes?

Five Years Later, Tony Gloeggler 

My brother was on his way to a dental appointment when the second plane hit four stories below the office where he worked. He’s never said anything about the guy who took football bets, how he liked to watch his secretary walk, the friends he ate lunch with, all the funerals. Maybe, shamed by his luck, he keeps quiet, afraid someone might guess how good he feels, breathing. 

Photograph from September 11 By Wisława Szymborska Translated by Clare Cavanagh 

They jumped from the burning floors— one, two, a few more, higher, lower. The photograph halted them in life, and now keeps them above the earth toward the earth. Each is still complete, with a particular face and blood well hidden. There’s enough time for hair to come loose, for keys and coins to fall from pockets. They’re still within the air’s reach, within the compass of places that have just now opened. I can do only two things for them— describe this flight and not add a last line. 

Andrea Gutierrez is the managing editor of the Bryan County News.