Augest 6, 1945
August 6, 1945
by Alison Fell
In the Enola Gay five minutes before impact he whistles a dry tune
Later he will say that the whole blooming sky went up like an apricot ice. Later he will laugh and tremble at such a surrender, for the eye of his belly saw Marilyn's skirts fly over her head for ever
On the river bank, bees drizzle over hot white rhododendrons
Later she will walk the dust, a scarlet girl with her whole stripped skin at her heel, stuck like an old shoe sole or mermaid's tail
Later she will lie down in the flecked black ash where the people are become as lizards or salamanders and, blinded, she will complain Mother you are late. So late
Later in dreams he will look down shrieking and see
ladybirds ladybirds
Bombing
Repetition
Simile
Female View
Personification
Alliteraion
Male View
Pronouns
GLOSSARY
'Enola Gay': this was the name given to (and painted on) the plane which carried the bomb to Hiroshima. The pilot's mother was called Enola Gay.
'Marilyn's skirts': there is a famous film clip/still photograph of the American movie star Marilyn Monroe, in which she walks over a pavement air vent and the warm air from it blows the full skirt of her light-coloured dress upwards over her head.
'drizzle': this means 'rain lightly', but here is used to evoke the way the bees descend, buzzing, on to the flowers.
'salamanders': a salamander is a lizard-like amphibian with a smooth skin. In ancient legend salamanders were supposed to be able to live in fire.
'ladybirds': there are numerous versions (not all in English) of the nursery rhyme which begins, 'Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, Your house is on fire and your children are gone'. There are numerous explanations for it, too. Ladybirds are quite difficult to
by Alison Fell
In the Enola Gay five minutes before impact he whistles a dry tune
Later he will say that the whole blooming sky went up like an apricot ice. Later he will laugh and tremble at such a surrender, for the eye of his belly saw Marilyn's skirts fly over her head for ever
On the river bank, bees drizzle over hot white rhododendrons
Later she will walk the dust, a scarlet girl with her whole stripped skin at her heel, stuck like an old shoe sole or mermaid's tail
Later she will lie down in the flecked black ash where the people are become as lizards or salamanders and, blinded, she will complain Mother you are late. So late
Later in dreams he will look down shrieking and see
ladybirds ladybirds
Bombing
Repetition
Simile
Female View
Personification
Alliteraion
Male View
Pronouns
GLOSSARY
'Enola Gay': this was the name given to (and painted on) the plane which carried the bomb to Hiroshima. The pilot's mother was called Enola Gay.
'Marilyn's skirts': there is a famous film clip/still photograph of the American movie star Marilyn Monroe, in which she walks over a pavement air vent and the warm air from it blows the full skirt of her light-coloured dress upwards over her head.
'drizzle': this means 'rain lightly', but here is used to evoke the way the bees descend, buzzing, on to the flowers.
'salamanders': a salamander is a lizard-like amphibian with a smooth skin. In ancient legend salamanders were supposed to be able to live in fire.
'ladybirds': there are numerous versions (not all in English) of the nursery rhyme which begins, 'Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, Your house is on fire and your children are gone'. There are numerous explanations for it, too. Ladybirds are quite difficult to