Poems by Kelly Jones

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Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant

by Kelly Jones

From Canary Winter 2013-14

Right now Kelly lives in the Lower Mississippi Watershed of New Orleans.

The school bus took us
to the underbelly
of electricity,
to learn
what made lights
come on
when we flipped a switch:
cores, coolant, technicians,
an emergency lake
that security guards
let us picnic by.

One of us asked about bombs
(Hiroshima, Nagasaki).
The tour guide explained
the future is nuclear and safe.

My friends work at that plant now,
understand that the white cloud
always in the distance
comes from cooling towers.
Their kids ask questions
that don’t get answered.
My friends teach me more
than tours ever did,
things I’d rather not know:
A fault line runs under Harris Lake.
Three risks of meltdown:
cracked reactor, leaky condenser, faulty turbine.
Nuclear evacuation signs:
just there for peace of mind.




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