Radium Girls



Poetry - by Colleen Anderson




They were happy to 

not be charwomen, maids

or harlots

to work for 

Undark and Luna, names 

romantic as gothic bluebooks


The girls numbered five 

the fingers of a hand

like those on a clock 

dials they painted

though many more made

the body luminous as stars

a galaxy of women unaware

time was counting down


Thrilling, like War of the Worlds

people grew as excited as radon 

courted by radium’s space-age shimmer

when the employees asked 

about dangers, they were told 

all is safe to “lip, dip, paint” 

so they swirled brushes over tongues 

while managers kept their mouths

firmly shut behind leaden shields


A cure-all for aches and pains

Sunshine Water infused with radium  

imparted a healthy glow they loved 

daubing radium mixed with zinc

on nails, teeth and faces all 

to let them shine in the dark


Girls worked in formal gowns

then went to balls radiant 

as ghosts dancing delighted 

to blaze as belles, the talk 

of the town the gleaming example

until, like Cinderella’s stroke

midnight arrived carrying 

them into reality


No longer laughing smiles

teeth and jaws faltered falling

gums rotted seeping

as skin tore like parchment

bones crumbled within flesh

these living dead pointing 

decaying fingers on hands

freed from the dials

as their clocks ran down


The company lied 

like radium's invisible poisons 

said the ailing women were

just syphilitic, just wanton

girls who flaunted 

ethereal evanescence


Five sued as their lives waned

fighting for the many 

whose radiance would dim

the business continued to produce 

corpses until deathbed evidence 

halted unsafe practices

forever changing workplaces


Radium girls, the heroes shining 

bright saved the future 

generations of workers 

paid by companies 

by the piece these half-life girls 

continue to pay the price


Time ran out

the radioactive clock continues 

for thousands of years

as the women lie

ghost bones glowing 

in lead-lined coffins

no one can afford to forget