Wednesday, February 11, 2009

8:15 No Future

VIP observers are lit up by the light of an atomic bomb, Operation Greenhouse, Enewetak Atoll, 1951.
Tomorrow

The air pops in his ears, sucking sounds away to the laboratory of progress.
There is a sliver of a moment, infinite and fleeting, when all futures come to nothing.
He holds his breath as if he has no choice.
Particles of dust hang in the air - anticipating gravity.
Still as the heart that has no companion.
The cat, each hair on its tail standing out in paranoid clarity, tenses its haunches in preparation for flight.
Still as the mind that has scaled the face of everything.
The hair on his arm stands upright and sways to the lullaby played out on scales infinite and absolute,
Still as the sap that will boil in the tree.

The air becomes solid, sculpted in time suspended - all history denied.
There is an inrush of sound returning to the room: the ticking clock, the humming fan.
He draws a breath, a breath that is soon sucked from his lungs as the world itself inhales.
Particles of dust accelerate outward toward the boiling core.
A breath so deep as to bow the wooden door.
As anticipated, the cat takes flight against the current; ears flat against its head, heading elsewhere.
A breath to declare all previous breathing wasted.
His hair whips across his face - it smells like rain.
A breath as deep as no tomorrow.

No tomorrow

The photo of this ‘man made sun’ was taken on July, 8, 1956 during a Apache H-bomb test on Eniwetok atoll. In 1963, health concerns about radioactive fallout led to a ban on atmospheric testing of atomic bombs. Since then, we haven’t had a chance to enjoy the vibrant radiation of atomic sunsets anymore.

6 comments:

Candie said...

wow,really intense..and deliverance but tragic because of the cat...

Garth said...

ha! never mind the humans eh Candie :)

Candie said...

In fact,I should agree cause most of the time,animals are better beings than men but,don't get me wrong,when I said "tragic because of the cat" I've meant by that where's his mirror?I'd rather have a man next to me than a cat on that day,but I'm also aware that they aren't as faithful as cats..

James Higham said...

No tomorrow - I was thinking that today.

Garth said...

Candie: mmm our cat is faithful oly to the hand that feeds it :) but I know what you mean
James: wot, no friday! tell me it's not true!

CherryPie said...

For James, there is always a tomorrow. We just can't be sure what it will bring!

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