Resigning from a Job in a Defense Industry

The names of things—sparks! I ran on them like a component: Henries, microhenries, Blue Beavers, wee wee ductors: Biographer of small lives, Of a plug and his girl named Jack, Of Utopian colonies which worked— Steel, germanium, brass, aluminum, Replaceables. Outside, afloat, my words Swung an arm charting the woman Who was the river bottom. We tried, beyond work, at work, To keep what we loved. Near Christmas I remember the office Women trimming their desperately Glittering holy day trees. And, Just as I left, the company Talent show, the oils and sentiment Thick on still lifes and seacoasts, The brush strokes tortured as a child’s First script. Someone Had studied driftwood; another man, The spray of a wave, the mania Of waters above torpedoes.