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About the oil painting,  SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

~  Janai-Ami 

Copyright 2021 Janai-Ami.  All Rights Reserved.

 

When images of the painting,  September 11, 2001,  appeared in several small local newspapers,  I started to receive queries.  (Was that an Angel or a person with tears running down her face up there in the right top quadrant?  What happened to that German Shepherd Rescue dog I had depicted?  What about the man with the bandaged head?)  I was completely mystified by the queries, since I knew that I had only painted flowers,  destroyed them in a fit of despair while watching News coverage coming in from Ground Zero,  then went back in and painted small pale pink flowers in their stead.  I knew that the strokes of my palette knife CLEARLY showed that that was what had happened. I knew that I had not painted any of the images that lots of people were reporting to see in the painting -- some of which I couldn't even see.  I asked my neighbor about the German Shepherd in particular.  The thought that I'd painted a dog - unknowingly - bewildered me.  I'm a dog lover, and believe me when I say that had I painted a German Shepherd, I would know about it! But I hadn’t.  SO, WHERE EXACTLY WAS HE?  My NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR in Toluca Lake tried repeatedly to point him out to me -- "Here's his snout,  there's his eyes,  do you see his head now?" -- but I couldn't see him because I knew I hadn't painted him.  It was not until one paper published an image of the work, mistakenly rotating it right to left.  Then - and only then -- the image jumped out at me.  "WOW!" I told my NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR,  "What the heck?! Well THAT'S creepy!"

 

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One day I had to stop in Westwood to speak with my auto insurance agent.  But first I had to pick up the painting that was being photographed in Pasadena.  I had it in the car with me when I arrived in Westwood that afternoon.  It was 102 degrees outside, so I carried the piece inside. Once in her office, I placed it on the arms of a third chair that was facing both of us as we sat across from each other at her desk. I had initially named the piece,  "The Flowers Hidden in the Fire" (in French) - because once complete, that's what it was.  It was initially flowers (red orange and yellow), and now that all of that was "smooshed up" it looked like a fire.  So the flowers were hidden in the fire. But when people looked at the piece, they'd say things like,  "Oh my God! September Eleventh.  That's really frightening" (or,  "That's really a powerful piece," or some variation thereof).  SANDY looked at the painting.  She liked it, and I told her about the articles and the images.  She immediately saw all of the images, including the German Shepherd's head that I missed seeing for so long.  And then we set about our business - insurance costs, rates, that sort of thing.  A voice in the hallway was directing a man into SANDY's back office, and THE GUY FROM UPS came in for Sandy's signature.  He was wearing the brown uniform and carrying a clipboard.  She signed and he turned to leave.  Then suddenly he stopped.  He was staring at the painting.  "September Eleventh,"  he exclaimed, "WOW!  I can see the little fireman and the hose.  That's really something." And with that he walked out of the room.  Sandy and I looked at each other, and I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head.  That was the first anyone mentioned a fireman to me.  Sandy jumped up and ran over to the painting, then chased after THE GUY FROM UPS, and made him come back into her office.  She asked him to point out the fireman to us. He did.  And we both saw him. There he was right there in the center, in the upper half of the piece.  Search light and all just like THE GUY FROM UPS had said.  "You see what I mean?"  

 

That evening when I returned home,  I put September 11, 2001 into a closet facing the wall.  I don't know what any of this means. I didn't know then, and I still don't know.  A part of me -- the scientist part of me -- wants to believe that it's just a Rorschach and people see what people will see.  But another part of me doesn't believe that at all.  

 

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September 11, 2001  Here for the record is a 2nd short excerpt of that One Very Long Poem.  This excerpt is based entirely on an article which appeared in The Los Angeles Times in the wake of September eleventh and the response of those at Valdez Terminal on that day:

 

 

(Excerpt)

Poetry, Copyright 2001 Janai-Ami 

In Valdez, Alaska

a huge problem,  a bane - 

Eight hundred miles of pipeline crossing quite rugged terrain

One-fifth of the U.S. oil,  domestic supply

And on September eleven a FIFTH airplane,

still up in the sky. 

 

A Korean Airlines jet,

towards Alaska did race

In the Northern Pacific,

heading right toward their airspace

The radio code - seven - five - zero- zero warned of impending attack

It was clear to the listener -

This plane was hijacked. 

 

And F-15 fighters were well on their way

To protect all of our oil

& blow the M- - - - -  F - - - ers away!

 

Five million gallons of oil,

in huge storage tanks

when the Order came through

from our Coast Guard top ranks: 

 

"GET THE TANKERS RIGHT NOW,  

THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!

SHUT DOWN THE TERMINAL!

AN ATTACK'S HEADED TO YOU - FROM THE AIR!!

EVACUATE THE HARBOR!!

GET ALL YOUR MEN THE HELL OUT!!"

 

Chief Radarman Bob Bennett said,  

"Hey!   - - -   WHAT'S ALL the yelling about?!"

Then he kicked into action,

pulling out all of the plugs, 

They could not find a pilot for the vessels,

so he cried,

 

                    "HOOK IT UP!!  USE THE TUGS!!"

 

As it turned out,  

it was a false alarm, 

A plane off course,

nothing more

But about three weeks later -

the date now October four

Someone pulled out a rifle

and fired just one shot

Put a hole in the pipeline, 

oil spilled, 

quite a lot. 

 

The Coast Guard now protects the pipeline, 

from terrorists in boats passing by

But on the prior 26 September -

a new threat had appeared up in the sky. 

Very late in the night,

a helicopter flew over the pipeline

and stayed. . . 

Hovering half of an hour, 

then vanishing

mysteriously

away . . . .

 

All other commercial and military aircraft had been accounted for 

But no one tried to stop this one - - -

a prelude to October four???

 

When asked if terrorists might be surveilling the place

Chief of vessel traffic at Valdez Terminal said

with a straight face, 

 

                    "We don't think it's a threat.  Our precautions are intact."

 

They said the same thing at the Pentagon,  

'day before the September eleven attack. 

 

 

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Essay,  Copyright 2021 Janai-Ami.  All Rights Reserved.