[madacoo]

# August 6, 1945

  In the Enola Gay
  five minutes before impact
  he whistles a dry tune

  Later he will say
  that the whole blooming sky
  went up like an apricot ice.

  Later he will laugh and tremble
  at such a surrender, for the eye
  of his belly saw Marilyn's skirts
  fly over her head for ever

  On the river bank,
  bees drizzle over
  hot white rhododendrons

  Later she will walk the dust,
  a scarlet girl
  with her whole stripped skin
  at her heel, stuck like an old
  shoe sole or mermaid's tail

  Later she will lie down
  in the flecked black ash
  where the people are become
  as lizards or salamanders
  and, blinded, she will complain
  Mother you are late. So late

  Later in dreams he will look
  down shrieking and see

  ladybirds
  ladybirds

Alison Fell

[daveslash]

I had not seen or hear-of this poem before. I'm familiar with the bombing of Hiroshima from a historical standpoint, but I can't say that I really understood this poem. I searched online for an explanation. I found this document. It looks like some sort of literature homework. It helped quite a bit.

http://essalanglit.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/5/4/10543533/augus...