Month: June 2019

Tonight’s sunset is in the shape of a mushroom cloud 
except pink 
echoes of the blast reverberate  
muffled, deafening 
seconds later, radiation emanates above it 
pink bleeding into the blue of the sky  
Whose job was it and why 
to stand by and capture the horrific moment 
of the world’s largest atomic bomb 
the beautiful swelling, curling edges 
as it vaporized the lives around it 
life almost stands still 
like when the air feels still, but is still moving 
Minutes later, that portion of the sky is slate blue 
and rectangular- an actual slate, a chalkboard 
wiped clean of mushroom clouds and destruction 
you would never know it had been there