The Jesus factor

Not one of the nuclear bombs worked,
even the most complex
went off like cheap fireworks.

The whales,
spoken to on a different frequency,
so many on the beaches,
thousands more just off the coast,
they tried to warn us.

Yet still the iron net dragged
the land barren, leaving its shark bite
deep on the bandaged legs of children.

In the town a bell tower
haunts the magnolia strewn streets,
waiting for the stunt doubles to fall.
Camouflaged behind crosses,
families watch the strangers ride in
on their black horses.

Later a mother will swap
her eldest son,
for a tin of corned beef.