by Phyllis Wax
the sun rose in the west
an awesome glow
trepidation
in the hearts of the scientists
who turned nature inside out
nervously imagining it would—
naively hoping it would not—
be used, would not blaze
and rise in the Far East
belching a fungal cloud
the toxic breath of a new beast
changing forever the odds
in favor of extinction
Phyllis Wax lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she seeks to make sense of history and the world. Her poetry shows up in The New Verse News now and then, as well as in numerous other online and print journals and anthologies.
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