top of page

Word Bread Pudding

For K
With text lifted from Alex Garkavenko's "Vertical Bunkers: Why to Hide in a Skyscraper During a Nuclear Fallout"

Although nuclear fallout
may not be as prevalent
in the public fear as
it was in the '60s, we should
perhaps still be worried

                                       

                                 Booskiferous my favorite mist cellar is
                                 our lingo tango club + you know
                                 we have codes ready no cracking

the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory has not
only tested the optimal
building conditions for blocking
radiation, it

                                 no hacking downloaded the secret
                                 parts+ parcel app for chat + fire

                                 in the streets we are flame veins
                                 + huddling in each other's red
                                 red chambers teamwork breathing

has also assessed
the risk of a number of scenarios

                                I'll sic the torches back on any reisner
                                with fists aflame for your face + fooz
                                them to shame gouda gouda? the haps
                                are glaring out there/ronkonk/I keep                                         seeing
                               the man in the dark wig + monster face
                               in the alley behind Winkie's/the mug
                               is changing color from the heat

Typical fallout shelter location.
Obviously, construction materials
are also crucial,

                              Dear Al it's Caribou it's Betty time for
                              Boole fool tutes I want to French
                              kiss our second crafted tongue at that lil
                              open mic we covered Wittgenstein                                             conference
                              room you so scattered what time is it                                           what
                             year is it we'd be good spies if we could                                      play
                             amnesiac in the streets/question game in                                       the

Sheetz

                          people are only afraid of brain surgery

                         

because       

                          of the pain but it actually works wonders
                         we resist sneak off to cross-dress as Mr. Hon

and the thicker
the material the better

                         + M s. Charm City we resist + change the

calendar

                        in the interest of gentler holidays+ gel pens                            for

me

                     we giggle at witchcraft + get turned away from

the

                     Lithuanian border for lack of ID we tear up
                     the concrete to adult purple rock star tinny
                     speakers/I careen free ways to keep our
                     portmanteau alive + unballooned
                     though we don't know for sure what that will
                    do

although the optimal shelter
still proves to be the underground
bunker, hiding within the core
of a skyscraper would also give you
a decent amount of protection

                    or what Hector's got left/oh Vermeerski lull
                    me bai but wake me up in time to block
                    the highway wake me up in time to glower
                   over press+ eggs+ plot to save the bell foundry
                    or climb the roof snap a second of the sunrise
                    before they take that too we've gotta be goats
                   we gotta head butt bump it/for one sec though
                   just
                   fold me into our own word salad or I hate
                   salad so let's just say our word bread pudding

Indeed, the soaring built
environment of a tall city
is exactly what is needed
to survive this particular
kind of apocalypse.

                  A dessert not particularly coherent but made
                  of many ingredients that feed you deep

                   For one stretching moment
                   we are so dangerous
                   that we are safe.

published in Snapdragon Journal, Spring 2017

Caroline DeLuca is a freelance writer, editor, and writing workshop facilitator living in Brooklyn. Her writing has recently appeared in Verbaleyze, Lost Tower Publications' Greek Fire anthology, Zeniada, and Lab Culture. 

bottom of page