The cloud that contained the lightning / Cynthia Lowen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lowen, Cynthia.

Series:

National poetry series

The national poetry series

Standardized Title:

Poems. Selections

Language:

English

Physical Description:

65 pages ; 22 cm.

Place of Publication:

Athens : The University of Georgia Press, [2013]

Summary:

Using the Character of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb," as a jumping-off point, The Cloud That Contained the lightning explores the kinds of ethical choices we face as individuals and as a society with respect to the innovations and inventions we pursue. How are our fears, obsessions, prejudices, and cultures manifested in the ways we apply new technologies? In exploring our tendency for selective amnesia, this collection asks a critical question: How quickly will the forgotten lessons of the past allow us to repent the tragic chapters of our history? Book jacket.

Contents:

Fission

Atom 5

Parable of the Children 6

Oppenheimer Wears New Mexico as Camouflage 7

Tea with the Wives Club 8

Oppenheimer Admires the Prints of Hokusai 10

Oppenheimer Plays Risk Wearing a Blindfold 11

Proposition 12

Trinity

The Scientific Method 15

Every Mother Says Her Child Is Special 16

Parable of the Children 17

Bedding Down 19

Risk/Benefit 20

And So What If We Blow Up the Atmosphere? 21

Theories of Relativity 22

Why Does Daddy Wear Sunglasses at Night? 23

And Our Tracks Turned to Glass in the Desert 24

Morning after Trinity; or, Oppenheimer Wakes and Remembers the Woman of His Dreams 25

Oppenheimer on the Couch 26

Match in One Hand

Oppenheimer at the Natural History Museum 29

Notes from the Target Committee: I. Tokyo 30

Oppenheimer Finds a Message in a Bottle 31

Notes from the Target Committee: II. Kyoto 32

Oppenheimer Sends a Message in a Bottle 33

Where Can You Hide a Think like That? 34

Notes from the Target Committee: III. Hiroshima 35

Hibakusha 36

Quantum Mechanics 38

Notes from the Target Committee: IV. Nagasaki 39

What's War Got to Do with It? 41

Parable of the Children 42

The Art of Surrender

The Wizard of Oz 45

Oppenheimer Studies the Art of Surrender 46

Hibakusha 47

Principles of Uncertainty 48

The Geology of Brotherly Love 49

Building a House for the Boat 51

Oppenheimer Gets Caught in a Blizzard 52

Clean Hands

Half-Life 57

Tea Ceremony 58

Hibakusha 59

Where Cancers Begin 60

Parable of the Children 62

Oppenheimer Finds a Lover; or, Afternoon at the Shore 63

After the Clouds Pass; or, Meditation on the Banks of the Lethe 64.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (page 65).

Poems.

ISBN:

9780820345642

0820345644

OCLC:

835117844