Uranium Butterfly Poem by Norma Mahns

Bare feet blister in hot cave
fumigated by uranium dust
where the old woman has no fire
to brew her tea.
Butterflies flutter from fields
fumigated by uranium dust.
Like quarks, they defy gravity.
Young man neglects his studies
on this day, to cut down last tree
growing in his ancient forest-
fuel for the old woman to brew.
Yet, the teenager has no fuel to listen
to Jim Morrison on the radio.
No laser ratification
neither motes, nor neutralization.
No nuclear neutralization.
ONLY ARMS PROLIFERATION! ! !
No Neutralization of nuclear waste!

Young man makes a case
to harvest uranium fields, where
uranium butterflies flutter up, up, and up
like magical photons, ascending, ascending
ascending like Jesus Christ!
Where matter is incorruptible...