Note: it is curious how the number 11 is woven through terrorist tragedy on 9/11. Both destroyed towers had 110 stories. It was Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower. Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. military operation of revenge on May 1, 2011. The 9/11 Memorial opened on September 11, 2011.
ELEVEN
The north tower swallowed
American Airlines Flight 11
with a surprised exhale of fire
and collapsed to the ground
in a cloud of exhaustion,
all 110 stories giving up
in unanimous succession
after the fell death blow.
I know we have not
gotten back up again:
the illusion of immunity
shattered, the skies no longer
friendly, the legacy of 9/11
turning the neighbor in the seat
next to me into an impossible question.