by Judith Meyerowitz
Yellow and black fallout sign in basement-gimme shelter
We squeeze our bodies under the desk seat.
We laugh tensely as we fit our tushies and feet- helter-skelter.
The Civil Defense film “Duck and Cover”
features “Bert the Turtle”,
who has a built-in shelter.
We are not supposed to face the windows.
The glass could shatter.
They did not tell us we will melt- helt•er-skelter
Will I be safe from the BOMB?
The President and his friends
have an underground shelter.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, I read Hiroshima
Their skin comes off their hands like gloves
Helter-Skelter
Gunfire! Students in place,
“And naught of earth shall harm me.”
For in the arms of God, I shelter
Helter-skelter.