September 11th Attacks Quotes

“2001, NOKIA CELLPHONE
His first cellphone was slipped
into his hands on September 12th,
2001. The cover was the American Flag.
“It’s just... in case of emergency,”
his mother whispered to him.
As if the world had not ended,
had not evaporated already.
He still goes to school.
He hears myths on the bus about Hussein.
He donates his piggy bank to Fire Station 86.
In it is a 20-dollar bill and purple
pieces of toy soldiers.
He wonders if the soldiers’ hearts exploded.
He wants them back in the piggy bank.”
― Palmer Smith, The Butterfly Bruises