Poems shouldn't be mere
Retelling of facts but
I feel compelled to
Make this solitary exception
A Catholic church stood
At the epicenter of
The Nagasaki nuclear blast
A brick column remains
The bomb was blessed
Before the airplane left
The airbase for Nagasaki
By a Catholic priest
There's enough metaphorical symbolism
And hard-edged timelessness present
To satisfy poetic standards
Giving it a voice