Plutonian Ode by Allen Ginsberg

I

What new element before us unborn in nature? Is there
     a new thing under the Sun?
At last inquisitive Whitman a modern epic, detonative,
     Scientific theme
First penned unmindful by Doctor Seaborg with poison-
     ous hand, named for Death's planet through the
     sea beyond Uranus
whose chthonic ore fathers this magma-teared Lord of
     Hades, Sire of avenging Furies, billionaire Hell-
     King worshipped once
with black sheep throats cut, priests's face averted from
     underground mysteries in single temple at Eleusis,
Spring-green Persephone nuptialed to his inevitable
     Shade, Demeter mother of asphodel weeping dew,
her daughter stored in salty caverns under white snow,
     black hail, grey winter rain or Polar ice, immemor-
     able seasons before
Fish flew in Heaven, before a Ram died by the starry
     bush, before the Bull stamped sky and earth
or Twins inscribed their memories in clay or Crab'd
     flood
washed memory from the skull, or Lion sniffed the
     lilac breeze in Eden--
Before the Great Year began turning its twelve signs,
     ere constellations wheeled for twenty-four thousand
     sunny years
slowly round their axis in Sagittarius, one hundred
     sixty-seven thousand times returning to this night

Radioactive Nemesis were you there at the beginning
     black dumb tongueless unsmelling blast of Disil-
     lusion?
I manifest your Baptismal Word after four billion years
I guess your birthday in Earthling Night, I salute your
     dreadful presence last majestic as the Gods,
Sabaot, Jehova, Astapheus, Adonaeus, Elohim, Iao,
     Ialdabaoth, Aeon from Aeon born ignorant in an
     Abyss of Light,
Sophia's reflections glittering thoughtful galaxies, whirl-
     pools of starspume silver-thin as hairs of Einstein!
Father Whitman I celebrate a matter that renders Self
     oblivion!
Grand Subject that annihilates inky hands & pages'
     prayers, old orators' inspired Immortalities,
I begin your chant, openmouthed exhaling into spacious
     sky over silent mills at Hanford, Savannah River,
     Rocky Flats, Pantex, Burlington, Albuquerque
I yell thru Washington, South Carolina, Colorado,
     Texas, Iowa, New Mexico,
Where nuclear reactors creat a new Thing under the
     Sun, where Rockwell war-plants fabricate this death
     stuff trigger in nitrogen baths,
Hanger-Silas Mason assembles the terrified weapon
     secret by ten thousands, & where Manzano Moun-
     tain boasts to store
its dreadful decay through two hundred forty millenia
     while our Galaxy spirals around its nebulous core.
I enter your secret places with my mind, I speak with
     your presence, I roar your Lion Roar with mortal
     mouth.
One microgram inspired to one lung, ten pounds of
     heavy metal dust adrift slow motion over grey
     Alps
the breadth of the planet, how long before your radiance
     speeds blight and death to sentient beings?
Enter my body or not I carol my spirit inside you,
     Unnaproachable Weight,
O heavy heavy Element awakened I vocalize your con-
     sciousness to six worlds
I chant your absolute Vanity.  Yeah monster of Anger
     birthed in fear O most
Ignorant matter ever created unnatural to Earth! Delusion
     of metal empires!
Destroyer of lying Scientists! Devourer of covetous
     Generals, Incinerator of Armies & Melter of Wars!
Judgement of judgements, Divine Wind over vengeful
     nations, Molester of Presidents, Death-Scandal of
     Capital politics! Ah civilizations stupidly indus-
     trious!
Canker-Hex on multitudes learned or illiterate! Manu-
     factured Spectre of human reason! O solidified
     imago of practicioner in Black Arts
I dare your reality, I challenge your very being! I
     publish your cause and effect!
I turn the wheel of Mind on your three hundred tons!
     Your name enters mankind's ear! I embody your
     ultimate powers!
My oratory advances on your vaunted Mystery! This
     breath dispels your braggart fears! I sing your
     form at last
behind your concrete & iron walls inside your fortress
     of rubber & translucent silicon shields in filtered
     cabinets and baths of lathe oil,
My voice resounds through robot glove boxes & ignot
     cans and echoes in electric vaults inert of atmo-
     sphere,
I enter with spirit out loud into your fuel rod drums
     underground on soundless thrones and beds of
     lead
O density! This weightless anthem trumpets transcendent
     through hidden chambers and breaks through
     iron doors into the Infernal Room!
Over your dreadful vibration this measured harmony     
     floats audible, these jubilant tones are honey and
     milk and wine-sweet water
Poured on the stone black floor, these syllables are
     barley groats I scatter on the Reactor's core,
I call your name with hollow vowels, I psalm your Fate
     close by, my breath near deathless ever at your
     side
to Spell your destiny, I set this verse prophetic on your
     mausoleum walls to seal you up Eternally with
     Diamond Truth!  O doomed Plutonium.