"Hanford" by Dane Karnick
The Atomic Age is
Ordinary as thistle
Rising between shale and sandstone
As dehydration pesters
The leather-skinned site
Around restricted land
Elk forage close by
Plutonium's hometown at
The Columbia River
Near waves of sagebrush bowing
To the War Powers Act
Of confiscated acres
With grouse and rattlesnakes
Moving freely beyond
No trespassing orders
While wind across bluegrass
Mutters Nagasaki
Past radioactive tanks
On this scenic floodplain
That accepts battle like
The traffic of clouds