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Plutonium 235
They cluster like obese children
In the shelter of the La Brea Tar Pit
Struck by a bolt of wonder
In the midst of trees bare now
Of leaves so delicious
They once dripped fragrant phlegm
This globe of fire has shattered roots
Distant from their vision
Yet with volcanic winds it lashes their back
And drives their faces forward
To a doom triggered by thumb nails and a chip of sand.
Readily Transferable Skill
Exorcising words
Like sin and fail
Is a full time job
A steady occupation
No need to worry
About shorter work weeks or a lay off
Then there's the overtime
Especially at 4 A.M.
The sweat stained pillow and rumbling belly
The dream of sprinting down Main Street
Minus your pants and bra
A strobe snapping at your heels.
Suzanne Richardson Harvey: For almost two decades, Suzanne R. Harvey lectured in the English Department
at Stanford University in California. She is now retired. In addition, for
a semester she was a visiting lecturer in the English Department at the
University of California at Berkeley, and for almost a decade she was an
instructor in the Publishing Program at the University of California at
Berkeley Extension. Before that, she was an instructor at Tufts University
in the Boston area, where she received her doctorate in Elizabethan poetry,
specifically that of Edmund Spenser. Recently, in her retirement she was
active in teaching at Emeritus College in the San Francisco Bay Area for
almost a decade.
Email: Suzanne Richardson Harvey
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