When I began working on my paper/presentation for In the Shadow… one of the places I started, just out of pure curiosity, was the September 1, 1939 poem by W.H. Auden. Not only does Spiegelman cite the poem in his book, but during at least two separate NPR interviews he mentions the poem again in reference to the “New York community” embracing poetry, finding solace in coffee house readings, in order to get a grip on what happened. I’m sure some of you, if not all, are probably familiar with Auden and his poem, whereas I was not. Aside from simply reading its entirety, I also found a deeply contradicting, and fascinating history attached to the poem. The poem was originally written at the beginning of WWII as Poland was being invaded, which leads me to believe that Spiegelman is more than likely completely aware of the poem’s historical context. The poem that people were finding comfort in and reciting in coffee houses, passing along through email, and even using in classrooms directly following 9/11, is the same poem used in the ever famous political commercial in 1964 with the little girl picking the petals off of a flower, the ominous countdown, followed by the mushroom-cloud image of an atomic bomb in the Johnson and Goldwater election. Bush senior also used the poem in his own fear commercials, and I just found it fascinating that a poem with such a rich history as being used as a political tool to fuel fear for the sake of political gain would be symbolically chosen as ‘the’ post-9/11 poem. Spiegelman does not directly cite this contradiction, or coincidence, or whatever you might call it, but I find it impossible to believe he is unaware of the connections considering his personal background. After understanding the history behind the poem, I re-read the panel including the citation (on page 10) and his commentary took on an entirely new meaning. Or maybe not entirely ‘new’ but definitely deeper.