Primer for the Nuclear Age by Rita Dove
I’ve become a bit sporadic with the PotD because my file has completely dwindled and I haven’t had any time to replenish it. So every day I go on a poem hunt (or not). Hopefully this weekend I’ll have time to relax and read some poetry. If not, I may go on hiatus with the PotD because I don’t want it to feel like a chore for me. I’d rather post a poem because I want to, rather than because I feel I have to, which is what it feels like when I cast around the internet aimlessly every day. That said, here’s one from a book I bought a few months ago.
Primer for the Nuclear Age
By Rita Dove
At the edge of the mariner’s
map is written: “Beyond
this point lie Monsters.”
Someone left the light on
in the pantry—there’s
a skull in there on the shelf
that talks. Blue eyes
in the air, blue as
an idiot’s. Any fear, any
memory will do; and if you’ve
got a heart at all, someday
it will kill you.
