Succulents

The jade saves its bloom
for the drought, reason enough
to live with little

Mining Stars (from here)

The President said
plutonium supplies
were good in the pits.
I wondered what it meant-
so I dug 963 feet
below the surface
seeking that sinking
heavy metal, heaving
twice its weight in gold,
yet primeval and silvery-
precious.

First made by supernovae,
naturally stardust,
radioactively broadcast
its position
through in the universe
-this one
time
expansion.

Discovered in Berkley,
in a February-
back then, 75 years ago, by a Glenn
Seaborg-not a Cyborg,
who then sent it to Los Alamos
in another February
for further detonation
and investigation
of astronomic instability.

With seven crystallographic phases
it elementary amazes scientists
in its fractalized dynamic destinies.
With differing densities, quite capably
able to decimate cities,
by morphing its own mass;
molten, hyper-reactive,
subject to spontaneous ignition,
irradiated with vaporous
breath, like making plus
molecules
ad-here
plutonic at the core.

Mass casualties of the atomic age
Man as kin, or mannequins staged
as markers amongst
the desert blooms
carbon footprints on the floral carpet
show we were here
in Plutonic Purgatory
hunting and gathering
wishing upon stars and
digging up disasters
in the diabolical desert
seeking forgiveness
in a cactus bloom.



Image of butterfly on desert bloom of zinnia By Mike Howard, BLM New Mexico State Office Botanist [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.