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Curse | Introduction

Frank Bidart’s “Curse” is addressed to the masterminds of September 11, 2001—those who planned and carried out the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and those who crashed an airliner into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. As the title suggests, the poem is a harsh and bitter indictment of these terrorist acts, and Bidart leaves no room to doubt the loathing he feels toward the perpetrators. That said, “Curse” does not rave in predictable angry language or trite sentiment. Instead, Bidart approaches this sensitive topic in a methodical and provocative manner that causes readers to think, regardless of any already-formed opinions they may have.

“Curse” is a relatively short poem, but its carefully chosen words, precise style, and intense message provide a dramatic comment on one of the most world-changing events in modern history. Ironically, Bidart relies on an early-sixteenth-century form of cursing a vile act or individual to express his dismay over an event that occurred in the early twenty-first century. The blending of old-style damnation with contemporary resolve makes this poem a memorable statement on a single day in U.S. history that dominated headlines for several years.

“Curse” was published in 2005 in Star Dust. It appeared previously in the spring 2002 issue of Threepenny Review and was subsequently posted on that journal’s website. However, readers should be aware that poems on the Internet may not appear as they do in printed publications. In this case, the line breaks in “Curse” on the Threepenny site are not the same as they appear in Star Dust.

Curse Summary

Line 1

The explication of “Curse” depends as much on understanding its style as its language. Bidart is noted for his quirky punctuation and presentation of words, such as using all capital letters or italics. In this poem, he uses italics and gaps in lines to emphasize his point, but what he does not use is just as important. The first line, for instance, may be confusing initially because it lacks the commas it needs to make the meaning easier to grasp. If it were punctuated as “May breath, for a dead moment, cease, as, jerking your,” its message would be clearer.

Starting the sentence with the word “May” is in keeping with the title of the poem, as the speaker expresses a wish or desire for what is to follow. What follows is the beginning of the “curse” that the speaker wants to befall the targets of his hex. Specifically, the first line expresses the speaker’s desire for the “you” in the poem (here, plural) to be so shocked at what is happening that they lose their breath for a moment and jerk in response to the scene. The fact that the moment is “dead” foretells the sorrow and death that underlie the main focus of the poem.

Lines 2–4

These lines identify the subject of the poem, as indicated by the reference to “one hundred and ten / floors” collapsing. Each tower of the World Trade Center had 110 floors that burned and collapsed on September 11. Here, the speaker’s desire is that those responsible for the attack should have to experience in slow motion the same horror of being trapped in a crumbling skyscraper. The hope that it occurs slowly implies the speaker’s yearning for the attackers to suffer as long as possible. He wants them to hear the floors falling evenly, one on top of the other, above their heads until finally all the floors “descend upon you.”

Line 5

This line employs the old “eye for an eye” concept of retribution. Just as the terrorists of September 11 “made” the World Trade Center fall, killing nearly three thousand people, the speaker wishes for the same to happen to them. Another common saying that this line brings to mind is, “You reap what you sow.” At the... » Complete Curse Summary