Duck and Cover with Bert the Turtle

Sister Benigna, you made us kneel
Beneath our first grade desks for air raid thrills
From Josef Stalin or Civil Defense.

“The Commies, children, count my fingers,
Made one-two-three of them curse Our Lord
In the awful cold of Siberia."

Mushroom clouds Blessed Virgin Mary white
In Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Now turned black as we settled for our nap,
Heads upon the table, but some cowered
Underneath like puppies do when lightning strikes
And thunder rolls but not from heaven.