Below Ground Zero
Rochelle Hope Mehr
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
