Pretty little mushrooms
Growing in the sky
8 feet, 50 feet, 100 feet high
Blasts of radiation
Blows us all away
When it turns to midnight
In the middle of the day
This poem uses a childlike rhyming pattern to act as a chilling juxtaposition to the gruesome nature of the use of nuclear weapons. It is an anti-war poem and anti-nuclear proliferation poem that highlights the poet's strong belief in non-violence. It begins with the simple imagery of pretty little mushrooms, however, it quickly changes in tone as the mushrooms grow unnaturally high blowing us away with blasts of radiation. It then ends with the reference to the Doom's Day Clock turning to midnight in the middle of the day.
© Vincent S. Coster 2018
