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Below Ground Zero

What's apparent from the surface is a cavernous hole
agape and ghastly
as a jack-o'-lantern grin
illuminated by the fires within

It japes at us, it gets to us
when we least expect it
this absence
this space where the Twin Towers stood

Below
the seared off hubcap of a car
the pulverization of flesh

absence within the absence

The ATM in its eternal expectant moment

waiting for the next customer to log on

In the bookstore, books still on shelves
self-contained
unperturbed

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