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A Nuclear Accident

A Nuclear Accident

A Nuclear Accident

By Elizabeth Koenig


What a wonderful mother you’ll become--

Maybe I’ll meet a chemist. There will be a spark,A burst of energy and we’ll procur

A burst of energy and we’ll procure a home.Atoms will split, glowing from my core, andGod Atoms will split, glowing from my core, and

God Bless! a slobbering and spittering little baby.

Cradled in it’s leaden bassinet,

Acute coos and goos like a Geiger counter and

I’m trying not to react to it’s complete

And utter meltdown.

Pacifier like cooling rods, I’m insufficient.

I once had a flourishing city; I was privy

But now it’s been razed for me to raise

This blank canvas, yet all I can think of

Is the contamination;

The millions of ways it can detonate.

In sixty seconds, total decimation.






spittering little baby.Cradled in it’s leaden bassinet,Acute coos and goos like a geiger counter andI’m trying not to react to it’s completeAnd utter meltdown.Pacifier like cooling rods, I’m insufficient.I once had a flourishing city; I was privyBut now it’s been razed for me to raiseThis blank canvas, yet all I can think ofIs the contamination;The millions of ways it can detonate.In sixty seconds, total decimationlowing from

I’m trying not to react to it’s complete


And utter meltdown.


Pacifier like cooling rods, I’m insufficient.


I once had a flourishing city; I was privy


But now it’s been razed for me to raise


This blank canvas, yet all I can think of


Is the contamination;


The millions of ways it can detonate.


In sixty seconds, total decimation

What a wonderful mother you’ll become—


Maybe I’ll meet a chemist. There will be a spark,


A burst of energy and we’ll procure a home.


Atoms will split, glowing from my core, and


God Bless! a slobbering and spittering little baby.


Cradled in it’s leaden bassinet,


Acute coos and goos like a geiger counter and


I’m trying not to react to it’s complete


And utter meltdown.


Pacifier like cooling rods, I’m insufficient.


I once had a flourishing city; I was privy


But now it’s been razed for me to raise


This blank canvas, yet all I can think of


Is the contamination;


The millions of ways it can detonate.


In sixty seconds, total decimation

Op. 37 No. 1


Based on Chopin’s Nocturnes, Op. 37 No. 1

Your shoulders have turned cold

Your eyes devoid of light

The heart knows what it wants to know, but the mind knows what is right

But when I reminisce on all the times that we’ve had, you’re still better than all the rest

You’re no longer the same man, still, I love you nonetheless

I hold onto the memories and the words that bring relief

I’ll dance around discernment just to spare myself the grief

And I’ll strike this torturous nocturne until I'm ragged and out of breath

You take my devotion for a game, still, I love you nonetheless

Now I sit across a softened man, a man for which I prayed

A man who admits that he was wrong, a man who knows he's changed

And a vow to be reborn leads me to forgive the test

The worst is through, and despite all that I knew, I’ll still love you nonetheless

But in the end, I suppose it's true, the mind knows what is right

But the heart will drag you through despair, through many a sleepless night

The man that I knew is gone; into the night he fled

But he forgot his burnished vow, the only thing I have left

Like a fool, I loved him in spite of it all, and like a fool, I’ve no regrets

A life that's new is a life without you, still your name gets caught in my chest

I should be through, but it still rings true, I love you nonetheless

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