9/11 – Clara Hsu

Welcome to my office at Mission Pie. The address: 2901 Mission Street, San Francisco. I’m there almost every Monday, and sometimes on other days too. If you’re a regular as I am, I’m sure we’ve met each other at one time or another. But I’m not here to tell you how great their pies are (they have great pies) and how bright and airy the place that makes it very suitable for writers because you can experience that for yourself. I want to tell you a personal connection that happened years ago.

The day after 9/11 in 2001 I sent out an invitation to my Clarion mailing list to attend a candlelight vigil on Friday. Many people came. After poetry and music we lit the candles and walked around the block in Chinatown. Then with a prayer and blessing we dispersed. I did not know most of the people who attended that night but we all felt we needed to have each other.

About a year ago when I went to Mission Pie the owner came up to me.

“I’m Karen. I met you at Clarion’s candlelight vigil. It was a beautiful experience that I’ll never forget.”

And now I am in her care, eating her wonderful pies, drinking her teas, claiming a space to further my poetry.

My step-brother Richard Koo was in the North Tower when the first plane hit. He was lucky to be on the ground floor at the time and therefore escaped unharmed.

Numerology played an interesting part in Richard’s escape. The number 47 had significant meaning for him since he was a boy. After he crossed over to New Jersey in a boat, he was able to make contact with his mother. She gave him my cousin Eva’s address in Tenafly. Her house number was 47. Richard had never met my cousin before, but she took care of him until he was able to fly back to Japan.

Years later the authorities contacted Richard. They had found his safe at the Marriott site, which was also destroyed that day. Richard went back to New York to collect his things: passport, camera, money, his Abramson Award certificate honoring his article on Japanese economy. He held on to these mementos with mixed emotions. He was a survivor of 9/11 but whatever he had lost that day had come back to him. Others who were there could only claim tokens of memory of their loved ones.

Photo from CSIS

Tag: 9/11

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