shriven

into the life
          the men in coveralls
          & homeless woman
          in three jackets
into the factories
          the empty buckets
          & plaster
into the gasoline reservoir
into the hydrogen shell
dreaming into sleep
into the ship at the end
          of the pier
          passengers waving
into the photographs
          yellowing at the edges.

before the detonation
          the child’s blood
          & missing leg
before the molten lead
before the cardboard tomb
before the booster rockets
     the aluminum foil
before the generator
          & asphalt
          & sterile soil
screaming to be born.

there the supernova
          the radiation sick
there the amber fields
          of corn
there the marble statue
          & rotting bricks
there the ridden blankets
there the black hills
          with white faces
there the spanish ships
there the dying negro
          the branded forehead
          the lacerations
          & bloodied whip