Pushcart Nominees
CHAIN REACTION, FUKUSHIMA
If they find the canary
in the coal mine
dead—
trouble ahead.
Massive die-off
of starfish on west coast,
can this point a finger
further west
where the ocean heaved
four years ago
breaching the sea wall,
spilling the cauldron?
Atomic heat became the drill tip—
went deep into the earth.
Poisoned water now flows to
the great Pacific,
a third of all seas,
hundreds of tons a day without end.
When does the food chain break
and drop us
face skyward
hands clutched
to our knees?
Bruce Gallie
Rancho Cucamonga, California