The Reverberations from 9/11 Seem Likely to Continue For Many Years

by Ally Malinenko

the bus pulled over after announcing
that at 9:03 the bus would pull over
on this, the twelfth anniversary of
September 11th
for a moment of silence.
We are right by the cemetery and
through the break in the buildings,
you can see downtown.
I take off my headphones and wonder
what that view was like 12 years ago
with smoke tunneling
forever into the sky
but everyone else
is still on their cell phone
the woman next to me chattering in Spanish
and a teenager squealing over a text
none of them looking at the empty sky
except the one old woman
at the front of the bus
who is praying so hard
right now
for the living
and the dead
as if that has ever worked.