Atomic Paradise

by Jules Nyquist

Atomic Paradise explores the nuclear history and the dawn of the atomic age. This collection of poems focus on the author’s experiences living in New Mexico, a land of incredible beauty, that is in the heart of the nuclear military/industrial complex. Atomic Paradise takes us from the author’s experience growing up in the Cold War, to reflections on the Manhattan Project, and poet/physicist Dr. Robert Oppenheimer. These poems also explore Hiroshima and the dropping of the bomb, the spread of nuclear weapons throughout the world and nuclear tourism, and the fallout of the nuclear industry in New Mexico. The Japanese internment camps in Santa Fe and the Trinity Site are included along with nuclear waste and the environment in the Southwest. Throughout are the author’s personal observations to make this huge topic of the nuclear war and the resulting nuclear industry a bit more human, and very relevant. "For those of us raised in the shadow of nuclear annihilation – and that is everyone born after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima – this reality is a terrifying and inescapable one. Jules Nyquist investigates this terrain with imagination and compassion. Of the Titan Missiles, she sees how “normalcy” has replaced the Cold “Tourists line up for tickets/ at the museum silo on the highway/ that runs down to Mexico.” Robert Oppenheimer is here, in his atomic Promethean role, as is Trinity Site. So much of this history happened in New Mexico that it benefits from the insights of a New Mexican writer. Important material, beautifully expressed."— Miriam Sagan, Santa Fe, NM

119 pages, Paperback

Published December 27, 2020

About the author

Jules earned her MFA in Writing & Literature (Poetry) from Bennington College in Vermont in 2007. She took a B.A. in Creative Writing from from Metropolitan State University, St. Paul, MN. Jules experiments with sound and form and continues to write poetry on the page and for performance.

She founded Jules' Poetry Playhouse in Albuquerque, NM in 2012, where she hosts visiting poets and conducts workshops and classes on poetry, creative writing and the creative process.

Reviews

[Mary Oishi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a time of global pandemic--and with the effects of climate change already upon us--a poet had to remind us of the biggest threat of all. Jules Nyquist does just that in Atomic Paradise, including well-researched historical figures and scenes, her own experience growing up in the Cold War, and her observations of life in New Mexico, her adopted home and birthplace of the bomb. This book is a sure cure for "our biggest enemy, amnesia."

[Debbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading these masterful poems is a wonderful way to learn about our nation’s nuclear history, especially as it pertains to New Mexico, a state with the highest federal funding in the United States as part of the nuclear weapons complex, and a state with one of the highest child hunger and poverty rates. Although the work is not without humor, these are not traditionally pretty poems, but poems of anguish intended to make us think and perhaps act. As you take the time to digest the intent behind this body of work, you will experience a growing sense of urgency, especially beginning with the poem on page 17 (American View 1941). “The future is a house we can/ build with a hammer and plans/Not a slow, ripening fruit...
Additionally, Jules misses no chance to point out difficult social and political norms and constraints, endured in the period of atomic weaponry development.
If you like well constructed poetry, or makes you think and feel, or poetry gives a powerful look at an important segment of history and current miscalculations, Atomic Paradise is a must read.

[Lenora Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love historical poetry, and this book did not let me down. Nyquist takes us from the parties of the Oppenheimers to the concentration camps of fellow Americans, from Los Alamos to the bombs, and everything in between and after. I hope this book is picked up and taught in American History Classes. And don’t think you’ll only read one or two poems at a time. You won’t. You’ll read several, if not the whole book. Yes, they are that good.