Lord Atom And General Mitchell
He saw it, military prophet.
Waves of weapons traducing
Cities by air, the last dimensions
Beginning to be violated,
How spirit of Gengis Khan
Could be coiled into metal cigars,
How systems of arms
Subtle, would grow.
We can leave a few ziggurats scattered
Here and there, time capsules
Might hold a picture
of mountains bearing
Blue lakes like captured sheep
Over their shoulders
Into the evening, and hold lighted city
Panoramas
histories of transformation
to the breeder reactor,
Of production traced to the hand-held
Neutron javelin or poly-urethane loincloth.
Celebrate while possible
The demise of war.
They still sacrifice half the crop
At power’s shrine.
And what Lord Atom rules he takes
Both mold and form, rules the banal
Passions crying on for conflict,
The thumb scooping out our eyes.
They are flying now, gliding
Beneath the sea. Ready to do it.
Enough strength to scrape away
The mountain like a scab.
Painful. Red under there.
Billion people say:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh.
Ready to do it all the time.
Lord Atom rules whatever walks the land,
Rules in palaces as well as dust,
Lord Atom turns the river into sand,
Rules in insect futures if he must.
Lord Atom: Sales Rep.
He’s down the street
Waiting for you
Dance of a normal day
Good looking women in
See through sitz-
Baths being wheeled
Down hospital corridors,
Produce piled up at market,
Sky a color between
Frail and cunning blue
He prides himself on being
THE REP.
a man who could sell
ANYTHING
a diamond to Kimberly
a gun to Krupp
opera love duets
to an audience of droolers
He’s picked out you
Star of profile study
My greatest sale, he calls you,
Showing pictures of the blast,
The searing light,
fibers curled
Backward in agonies of
Devolution
what happens to the skin
And so forth.
YOU OUTTA YOUR FUCKING MIND?
You say firmly (a good line).
He only smiles
Buys a round of drinks
Sets his mind on
Medium distance waiting.
You’ll buy, he smiles again.
There’s a good cause
Thrown in
a discount god, culture,
Freedom for the people of
(Erased). . . .
Erased? Where the hell’s that?
He only smiles again.
You’ll buy.