The Day After
for Joseph Lee Rykiel,
who believed the end
was near, and so it came closer, drinking himself
into wild turkey oblivion, until he saw the light,
and it was the hydrogen bomb
To what shall I compare the earth the day after
nuclear exchange?
Shall I begin by counting the warheads as grains
of sand, soon
enough to fill all the beaches of cape cod?
Shall I begin by numbering the days to Armageddon
and start
counting backwards until I fall asleep?
Shall I begin by saying that bomb now wears the
disguise of
terrorist mailman, has all our addresses in his plutonium
backpocket?
Shall I say that unlike human being bomb has never
wanted to be
alone, has gathered unto himself all the resources of
Europe America and the Soviet Union?
Shall I say bomb has no need of human fixtures
the waterfaucet
the incandescent bulb the doorlatch, that he comes and
goes as he pleases among the heads of state?
Shall I say that it was bomb thought up the appropriations
poured
the cement wired the electric circuits, that it is bomb
repairs the B-52 runways of nuclear oblivion?
Shall I say that bomb has been done without sexual
relations, is
fruitful and multiplies upon the face of the earth and
is rising even now into the glory of the sky?
Shall I say then that bomb is god greater than
Zeus Caesar Allah
and Jehovah rolled into one, exacts his tribute into
the hundreds of billions of dollars?
Shall I say bomb sits content in judgment at electromagnetic
vanishing point of history, with a wink of his cosmic
eye wishes us all good luck?
Shall I say bomb is eleventh and final plague
upon the house of
humankind? Woe! Woe unto them who would step into
his way!
One trident submarine has more explosive power
than all armies
in warfare history.
What plebiscite commissioned monstrosity?
What ivy league graduate signed his name to requisition
form
of megadeath?
Who broke champagne bottle against hull of apocalypse
sea
serpent?
What annapolis crackpot pandered congressional
seal of approval?
What will good housekeeping have to say about
the mess?
What crime great enough in the making to stir
conscience of
nation?
Who woke up in the middle of the night with this
bright idea
I want to know!
Shall I go on and say there is intelligent life
in the universe
that knows nothing of these plans and lives in peace
O where are you now?
Shall I issue my appeal for help in some as yet
unknown
galactic tongue?
Shall I say they might be able to teach an old
and dying species
a new trick or two?
What odds, Jimmy the Greek?
Which roulette table, Las Vegas?
How to get from here to there?
Will secret service transport presidential entourage
the day
after by rickshaw?
Will soviet politburo have to walk to work?
How many tibetans on their way to marketplace
when the big one
rock 'n rolls the himalayas?
Will washington burn down the house to roast its
russian bear?
How many flights down fire escape of empire state?
How far into the earth to protect the federal
reserve board?
What ventilation system necessary for survival
of human race?
O now I can foretell the silence of transatlantic
cable.
O now I can foretell the yearning of silverware.
O now I can foretell the desperation of baby stroller.
O now I can hear the lament of whale song rolling
over and over
in its oceanic grave.
O now I can hear the death knell of church bell
over the
remaining outposts of the human race.
O now I can measure the hope the day after in
a teaspoon.
President of USA is compulsive gambler with humanity.
President of USA is thermonuclear junkie.
US economy needs plutonium fix to get itself going
in the
morning and out the door.
Secretary of Defense has needle marks from shooting
Cesium 137.
White House staff gets its kicks snorting enriched
uranium.
Congress speeding its brain on fissionable material.
Fortune 500 military-industrial complex has hopeless
bellyache
from guzzling radioactive waste soon will be shitting
phosphorescent bricks!
Shall I now appeal to prurient interests and say
that arms race
obscene, worthy of expulsion from granite halls of
senile and stammering Congress?
Shall I say forthright the National Security Council
is drunk
with power and demand a sobriety test and mandatory
jail sentence?
Shall I introduce my disarmament idea to the intelligence
agencies as the next great emancipator?
What amber waves of grain?
What purple mountain majesties?
What heavenly tenderness take hold in the American
heartland
to stem the tide of such madness?
O tell me how many generations henceforth can
dance on the
nosecone of a ballistic missile?
O tell me could the great houdini get out of the
straightjacket
of deterrence alive?
Does Europe like immortal Garbo just want to be
left alone?
What riddle will sphinx think up the next time
around?
How many nuclear wolf alerts before unbelievable
happens?
What alice in wonderland dare come back through
the looking
glass into this world the day after nuclear exchange?
Where will the spirit of christmas past go?
How far over the rainbow to escape the fallout?
O scarecrow of the impossible ground zero!
O tin man with your heart in your throat!
O cowardly lion! Who will be king now?
O Dorothy! How return home to irradiated Kansas?
O wizard! What wicked magician let this one out of the
trap door in Pandora's box?
I say now that it will take a million gandhis
to bring peace
to planet.
I say now it will take a million einstein brains
to outwit
diabolical brain of missile launch system.
I say now it will take four score and seven generations
to undo damage already done by bomb.
Hopelessness of the young thy name is bomb.
All the young born under the sign of bomb.
How to cope with premonition of the end of the
world?
So long until tomorrow, Lowell Thomas!
One giant leap for mankind, Neil Armstrong!
A penny saved is a penny earned, Ben Franklin!
Some pigs are more equal than others, George Orwell!
Strawberry fields forever, Lennon and McCartney!
I shall return, Douglas MacArthur!
All the news that's fit to print!
Remember the Alamo!
Peace is at hand!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!
Anchors aweigh, my boys, anchors aweigh!
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down!
Provincetown, MA - Venice, CA
August 1983 - July 1984
CONTENTS
The Day After
page 1
Poem Against the Reagan
Administration page 2
At a Rally in
Washington Against the Draft page 2
America Revisited
page 3
Poems for a Small
Place to Rest page 4
page 5 page
6
What He Would Not
Tell Him page 7
Waking Poem
page 7
Moon
page 7
Laborers
page 7
Spring 1980
page 7
Lebanon 1982
page 8
As the Latin
American War Approaches page 8
Poem for
Immediate Disarmament page 8
To Whom It May Concern
page 9
Song of the Little
Girl page 10
to the collection The
Book of Awakenings