blackbirdan online journal of literature and the artsFall 2009  Vol. 9. No. 2
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DAVID WOJAHN | Ochre

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Los Alamos: Oppenheimer’s Son Peter with His Father’s Pipe
Gelatin Silver Plate, 1944

Endless days of nannies with security clearance:
Marta with her face mole, a trio of long white hairs

Feathering from its center. She hums to Glenn Miller.
She does not slap him as Carmela did.       
                                                              English

Is not her strong suit. Endless days he watches
The clock edge to 3 above the woodstove,

Chalk dust shimmering the air. Cursive, cursive
Cursive. Uppercase & lower.
                                              One-room schoolhouse

& outside Keeps grind gears in quagmire streets.
Trucks lug heavy water to the detonation site.

My    nameis   Peter    Thetownwhere I live   does   not exist.

MY NAME IS PETER MY TOWN DOES NOT EXIST.

Some nights I wake to father hoem he’s a book a drink
A radioh
              This is me and his pipe   It tastes jst like a cough


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