When the Towers Fell

In fourth grade the Towers fell
And giddy kids cried this must mean
World War 3.

The TV president said
This was Evil,
A reproductive word.
A war on terror, he declared,
As terror replayed
Across every face.

For decades the vacuum in the sky
Got remade in blockbuster movies
That never traced this rift’s origins
Only added more capes.
Color-corrected marquee stand-ins
For the flags draped over military graves
Lined on cut grass lawns
To a vanishing point.

A conspiracy, parrot the theorists
Who divide and multiply
For every rolling unmet eye
And so overlook
What hides in plain sight:
Error and greed.

These were unintended consequences
From acts of legitimized violence
Bipartisan authorities continue to supply
Like weapons of mass destruction to Israel today.
The fall’s origins were exported
And the spoils pocketed,
American-made.

If we stop now,
The terrorists within win
So cast them out
In another skin.