Bikeman: An Epic Poem

By Thomas F. Flynn

Book Overview

On September 11, 2001, journalist Tom Flynn set off on his bike toward the World Trade Towers not knowing what he was riding into. Bikeman is one man's journey back to the horrors of that day and to the humanity that somehow emerged from the dust and the death. Both heartbreaking and haunting, his words will stay with you like that 'forever September morning.'" --Meredith Vieira, NBC's Today

Tom Flynn brings to his subject three invaluable attributes: the eye of a seasoned journalist, the soul of a poet, and his stunning, first-hand experience of that horrific day." --David Friend, Vanity Fair

From Bikeman
The dead from here
are my forever companions
I am their pine box,
their marble reliquary,
their bronze urn,
the living, breathing coffin they never had,
their final resting place without a stone.
I move on at peace.

Modeled on Dante's Inferno, veteran journalist Thomas Flynn's Bikeman chronicles the morning of September 11, 2001 like no other published work. Flynn delivers a personal account of his experiences beginning with the first strike on the World Trade Center when he decided to follow his journalist's instinct and point his bike's handlebars in the direction of the north tower. His story continues as he transitions from reporter to participant hoping to survive the fall of the south tower. Now Flynn, as both journalist and now survivor, must come to terms with the harrowing ordeal and somehow find peace in the very act of surviving.

Part journalist's record, part survivor's eulogy, Flynn writes:
Survival is the absence of death.
It is a subdued, a hushed existence. . .
I live to talk about it,
to relate the tale as it happens,
not only its extremities and cruelty,
but also the goodness that flourishes too.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0740775596
• ISBN13: 9780740775598
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Remarkable, original work

Thomas Flynn's Bikeman is so moving, but it is also so fascinating. His choice of epic mode and idiom seem strangely fitting. I hope to read it with my students--ideed I bet it would be a remarkable and quite interesting choice for the high school classroom studying September 11th. Tremendously interesting for discussion.

Bikeman:An Epic Poem

I heard the author on NPR, the content and his description fascinated me.The book was exactly as described. Excellant

Remembering 9/11

John Fleming's introduction to "Bikeman" is a must read in understanding the power of the form Mr. Flynn has chosen for his writings about 9/11. He states "'Bikeman' is no less striking in its form than in its content, for it is written in a kind of searing free verse that attempts to impose some discipline on raw emotion without denying its intensity." While at first I wasn't that excited about reading a volume of epic poetry, I almost immediately saw the value of Mr. Flynn putting his 9/11 experiences into this form. His is an emotional reaction to the experience he had that day - and the form he chose makes it both more immediate and also more stylized in a way that imposes some sort of greater meaning on the individual events. While I'm sure that a straight-forward prose account of Mr. Flynn's experiences would be interesting, this epic poem is very effective in capturing the emotional response he has had to the events he witnessed and experienced. It's a book I will want to keep and re-read as a way of remembering 9/11.

Wow. What a Book.

Extremely powerful and absolutely heart-wrenching. Thomas Flynn gives us an unheard perspective of the horrifying events of 9/11 in his own poetic voice. Bikeman: An Epic Poem is certainly epic both in its subject matter and raw honesty of Flynn's experience that day. What a sad, yet truly special gift it is to be able to read this book.

"We did not live through it, we just did not die."

On September 11, 2001, journalist Thomas Flynn jumped onto his bicycle and rode to Ground Zero to cover the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He would soon find himself caught up in the events of that "forever September morning", his life - like that of countless others - changed forever. Flynn's words paint a vivid picture of the low flying jet, an ominous and incongruous sight as it skimmed the tree tops above him and roared towards its target. His words are equally eidetic as he describes his arrival at Ground Zero, where he sees people jumping from the burning buildings, tumbling like rag dolls to the ground below. The reader, like Thomas, is there for the most intimate moment in the life of a stranger: "I am witness to this and embarrassed. I am an intruder on the most private moment of her life: her death." Flynn also records the surreal visage of the towers engulfed in flames: "The flaming tower mocks a colossal lighthouse built to protect unsuspecting passengers No, this is not the lady of the harbor who carries a torch of dreams It is a barbarian beacon, with no intention to warn those who see her beams." Throughout the poem, the reader bears witness to Flynn's struggle to survive, and later, his struggle to come to grips with being a survivor: "We did not live through it, we just did not die." Bikeman is billed as an epic poem in the style of Dante's Inferno. This may sound intimidating to someone who is not a regular poetry reader. However, Flynn's style is very approachable and easy to read. It will be enjoyed by both serious poetry students and those who may be unfamiliar (or perhaps a bit uncomfortable) with the genre. At just over seventy pages, Bikeman is a quick read, but a lasting experience. Within the first few minutes of my reading, I found that I was so engrossed in the experience that I was holding my breath. Flynn's words and the images that they evoked stayed with me long after the last page had been turned. Visceral and hauntingly beautiful, Flynn's poetry is an intense and unique insight into one of the darkest days in American history. Bikeman has found a place of honor on my bookshelf, and it is a book that I cannot recommend highly enough.