The video footage does not show
that a third of the bomb’s energy
is the heat burning red-grey-dark;
people cycling home in upright,
are struck to the ground by tarry rain.
They’d finished making their quota
of new warheads. Ten each.
The cameraman checks the battery
power left in his machine, and decides
to break for lunch.
Tapes fast forward,
skipping images of explosives stored
in nearby bunkers: four tonnes for
each man breathing earth’s ash:
one million Hiroshimas. He sits smoking
in a café but nobody brings the menu.
Maria Stadnicka
Illustration: Claire Palmer