Into The Lincoln Tunnel by Deborah Garrison

Deborah Garrison, who wrote this poem, is talking about a typical day in New York City. The Lincoln Tunnel, as we know is located in New York. Garrison describes how she hopes nothing bad will happen while she is traveling through the Lincoln Tunnel going to a destination. Garrison states, "I was whispering a prayer/ that it not be today, not today, please/ no shenanigans, no blasts, no terror..." While on the bus, in the Lincoln Tunnel, she prays to someone in hope nothing bad will happen.

The background of this poem is an ordinary day when people go about there normal activities, and they think that something bad was going to happen. All the people on the bus, pray that somthing will not happen. "Yes, please smile upon these good/ people who want to enter the city and work./Becasue work is good, actually, and life is good..." We also see a coffee simile, "a cup of coffee, a modest thing to ask/ Abe for,/dark, bitter, fresh,/ just as an ordiary morning." This simile is refering to the day. It could also contrast the construction you can see all around the city.

This poem can relate to September 11th, 2001 because when everyone was heading off to work or traveling to a destination, just like any ordinary day, the event of 9-1-1 happened when we witnessed planes crash into fields and into buildings and towers. The setting of the poem, New York is exactly like what happened on that horried day. We saw people praying while they were on the planes and trying to get in contact with love ones telling them they love them and will miss them and that they will die. The poem fits the event of September 11th exactly.