poem, poetry, fire, nuclear, suicide, self immolation, protest

FLAME

so committed
to the horror
they ignore,
overlook, suppress
the flame

Oh, brief terrible candle,
do you not know
that it is possible
for the atoms
in your body
to reach critical mass?

that you could blow
like a regular backya
plutonium warhead
take out a street, a city,
a neighborhood

and even then
they would not listen
would find
the spin to
cover their sins
hide their complicity
deflect all blame

but you burn small
tiny, a brief candle,
your death your own
no spreading
no lingering

sign of how deep
it runs, all
the refused shame