Granny who could feel vibes
before we had a name for it
tells how the fireflies would rise every evening
just at the onset of dark
and slowly rise higher
blinking like air glitter
except one evening, 5 August
7:15 PM in Maryland time
which was 6 August 8:15 AM in Japan,
each and every bug went dark.
And Granny who was a little girl back then
wonders if it happened all over the world
or just that one lawn she saw
from the glider on the front porch
but every lightning bug went dark
and never lit again that night
though only later did she learn
that’s the moment when the atom bomb
obliterated Hiroshima and of course
the bugs are just mating,
that’s why they flash.
a
Joe Cottonwood repairs homes for money and writes poems for reasons he can’t explain. He lives under redwood trees in La Honda, California dodging wildfires and playing with grandchildren. His most recent book is Random Saints.
© 2021, by Joe Cottonwood
Halfway Down the Stairs 