September 11, 2001

by Vicki Cobb  
​The Master Chef of Kids' Hands-on Science

See note at end.  This is now history.  Babies born around this time are now adults.  


​A cowardly bully came out
of his cave today to
trespass on our shining city.
Out of the blue
he had the nerve
to punch out its
two front teeth.
The pain is excruciating;
Bleeding is everywhere.
The remaining stumps are
grotesque.
We've lost our pretty smile.
We can't bite a big apple.
It's hard to look at mutilation.

Dazed, we check for damage.
Although choking on thick air,
we are very much alive.
Our heartbeat is strong.
There is no drop in our vital signs.
Blood rushes in to replace
blood lost.
Slowly we discover
we can still chew
and make a fist and
think.

Oh yes, we'll make sure
this "holy" terror
can never return
to our playground
or our friends.'
But how?
How do we shadow box
a villain who doesn't
play by the rules?
We see evidence
of our noble,
generous,
and loving spirit.
Yet hate destroys
within as well as without.

Here then is our challenge:
We must keep this wound
from festering
becoming toxic to ourselves.
We must imagine the unimaginable
to thwart evil
before it comes back for more.
We must seek justice,
not vengeance to
preserve our soul.
We must trust our leaders
who see more
than this one tormenter.
We must be brave
and patient
and faithful.

As good as we believe
ourselves to be,
we must become better.

Scar tissue is stronger
than unscarred.

Text copyright © 2001 by Vicki Cobb
​
Reflection:  I wrote this poem on September 12, 2001.  I am a New Yorker.  One grandson, who was 4, was starting school, a few blocks from ground zero.  My husband was working in the city. It was a terrible day.  I wrote this poem to try and make sense of it for my readers.  Do you think it is still true today?​

Here I am in 2014 on the 43rd floor terrace in lower Manhattan. The brand-new Freedom Tower, on the site of the Twin Towers lost on 9/11, soars behind me. It is 1776 feet tall.

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Vicki Cobb is the author of about 95 books. The book that first got her noticed was Science Experiments You Can Eat. It has become a classic.  This is the cover of the third revised edition of the book, published in 2016. ​

MLA 8 Citation
Cobb, Vicki. "September 11, 2001." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 11 Sept. 2017, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/category/cobb-vicki. 

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