"Fat Man"*

I shriek,

And I explode.

I mushroom,

And the light is glaring, burning, indescribable,

X-ray fire through cement,

Shadows bound to the world now,

And the screaming that I do

Is nothing compared to

Acres of painful cries I cause.

I am everywhere now,

And nowhere that they can see me,

As I creep into their unseen futures,

Through their open mouths

Still begging for mercy

Minutes too late.

I claim victory for the assassin,

Mass murder done with inhuman hands.

And all they had to do was drop me.

*"Fat Man" is the name of one of the nuclear bombs

dropped on Japan at the end of World War II.

by Lara Sloane