No haiku this week, folks. I'm sorry. Yesterday -- Saturday -- was 9/11. I spent the morning at Ground Zero, at the ceremony, and was knocked out emotionally in a way I didn't expect. I go every year; there are no surprises, I'd have thought, even down to the way the ceremony's run, the cello music and the rhythm of the reading of the names. A lot of sadness, a time of reflection, and then you shake yourself and get on. But this year emotions in the crowd were running high over the whole "Ground Zero Mosque" business, both pro and con; there were American flags everywhere, and conspiracy theorists in their "9/11 was an inside job" tee shirts; a lot of just plain nastiness, pushing and shoving (didn't help that the NYPD had way underestimated the size of the crowd and put the barricades in a place that made trying to stand or walk actually dangerous -- eventually they got it and moved them, expanding the space). The whole atmosphere, on top of the emotional shake-up I always get at the ceremony, made it impossible for me to focus on haiku, which I'd intended to do once the thing was over. I couldn't; I actually came home and slept most of the afternoon. I know I often post the haiku late, but I always write them on Saturdays and I wasn't about to fake it. Yesterday, I couldn't and didn't. I was as surprised as you, and probably more disappointed, but it is what it is.