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