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Marie Curie Illuminates her Research for Us // Liz Dolan

It is all about light
the luminous light of the mind
and the silver white of the radium
we worship together at night.
And the absent light on that rainy day
in Paris, Pierre, you beneath
the black umbrella, blind
to the carriage that robbed you of light
forever. And your protege’s eyes
that move me to surrender
my black dress for white
a rose at the waist.
His mind vivacious
his luciferous wife blind to it.
She threatens to kill me,
calls me a Salome, a jew, a Pole.
And luminous watch dials
the factory girls paint
pointing their brushes
with their lips. And the light
that fissures my fingers and
bleaches my bones so they glow.