Well, for an exposition of this poem (well, at least some of it) see below. First, . . .

@my = @our =(company, "KBW");
{integrity, family, money, diligence};
study banks;
write "research";
join buyers & sellers, investors & entrepreneurs;

wait;
listen(airplanes, explosions);
alarm delayed;

warn friends if possible;
flock quickly, to-the-exits;
(running=>down=>the=>stairs);

while (<thinking>, <talking>) {40% die};
burned and crushed and smashed and smothered;
REBUILD:  connect servers, clients;
          link databases, routers;
          sleep nervously for months;
do work until exhausted;

TASK:  read emails, $messages, archives;
for (@ll-the-dead){
  "Are you okay?";
  "Write back to me!";
  "I miss you, daddy";
  "How could you let them DIE?!";
  for(business){send on, forward, respond} if (appropriate){}
  else{delete $message{sadly}}
}


study banks;
write "research";
join buyers & sellers, investors & entrepreneurs;

###################################################################;


$_ = $my[1];$m = $s = ord(chop);
$k = chr(ord(chop $our[1]) - (($x = chop $s) + chop $s));print ''.
(reverse $k.chr($m - $x).chr((ord(chop))-1).chr((ord(chop))-1));
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I work for a brokerage which was located on the 88th and 89th floors of Tower 2, and was at my desk when the plane hit the first building. This poem is a pitifully bad recounting of that experience (but happens to be my first perl poem).

I set myself some guidelines before writing it. I wanted it to parse (which it does under 5.8) and produce output (which it also does). I also wanted to give a taste of what it was like -- the task of reading emails sent to people who didn't survive was a difficult one which everyone in IT did. KBW was a very close company; I knew pretty much everyone who did not survive, and was close to many.

There are also subsequent facts hinted at in this poem which I am not free to explain right now.

KBW itself is a vibrant, strong company. I am particularly proud of the way deceased employees were treated -- the families received the employees' salaries through the end of the year, including bonuses (contrast this to Cantor Fitzgerald, which docked pay for not showing up to work).