Underground Shelter Redux

The Feds are Updating Theirs, Maybe You Should, Too

With ballistic missiles falling like rain on Israeli cities right now, it might be time to reexamine underground living, as in bunkers.

The day I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, my dear mother, Phyllis Mary Watson Curley, made me pull the car over on the way home at the Wissahickon Creek near Germantown, Philadelphia where she grew up. She had me walk through the forest to a cave that had a bronze plaque that spoke of our ancestors the Watson’s who lived there in the 1640’s when they came to America. She pointed to it and said, “You’re ancestors lived in caves in America until they could build a cabin. You may have to do the same someday.” Smart woman, my mother. She was trying to tell me a basic truth.

Here are some manuals you can read for how to do so. Underground Shelter Systems by Utah Shelter Systems can build you a sweet, comfy underground shelter. All the analysis in italics below is from their website.

Contact Underground Shelters USA at: info@utahsheltersystems.com and ask for Paul: 801-631-7684 or Sharon: 801-380-2932. They are located at 293 Lost Creek Dr., St George, UT 84771.

The Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center in Virginia, a key "continuity of government" site, is undergoing upgrades to enhance its ability to protect federal leaders during crises. These upgrades involve underground construction and improvements to HVAC systems.

Raven Rock Mountain Complex (Pennsylvania) and Cheyenne Mountain Complex (Colorado) continue to serve as operational bunkers for military and government continuity continue to be maintained and upgraded. With Anduril products being developed at a rapid clip, hopefully, Red Chine will not decide to rain down missiles on us as Iran has with Israel, but who knows.

Make Your Own Family Disaster Threat Assessment

Download a printer-friendly version of this assessment.

'Primary' and 'Secondary' NBC targets as well as potential for natural disasters should drive your shelter design requirements for depth of cover, installation and furniture decisions. The following threat assessment questionnaire may help you in your customization decisions.

• List the number of Primary Targets (major airports, military bases and other) within a 10-mile radius.

• How close are you to a large city of population over 200,000?

• List the number of secondary targets (dams, power plants, refineries and other) within a 10-mile radius.

• List the number of major highway interchanges within a 10-mile radius.

• Is your area prone to earthquake?

• Is your area prone to tornados?

• Is your area prone to hurricanes?

• Is your area prone to flood?

• Is your area prone to wild fires?

• How densely forested is your area?

• What are the extremes of your local temperatures?

• Would you consider your locality to have high, low or medium humidity?

If you would like us to evaluate this questionnaire, please email it to us.

Assessing Your Nuclear War Exposure Risk: Probability and Consequence as explained on the Utah Shelter Systems Website

Most people consider the risk of a nuclear attack to be very small. No such attack has ever occurred in our country, therefore, they consider the probability of such an event to be near zero. Keep in mind, however, that a true risk assessment must consider both probability and consequence.

Download a printer-friendly version of this assessment.

Most of our national security strategists agree that the possibility of a nuclear attack from terrorist countries and organizations grows daily. The technology is well known and the nuclear fuel for such weapons is available on the “black market.” China, Iran, and North Korea have made veiled nuclear threats against our borders, terrorist organizations claim to have “suitcase bombs” and Russia and China continue to modernize every aspect of their strategic nuclear arsenal.

Edward Teller, the father of the hydrogen bomb, said, “Every day we go without a nuclear terrorist attack is a gift.” The probability of a nuclear event is greater than most people think.

The consequences of a nuclear attack, in loss of human life and collateral damage, would be huge. The relatively few lives lost in the U.S. from hurricanes, flood, or the recent 9/11 terrorist attacks would pail to the tens of millions of lives lost from a potential nuclear attack.

When multiplying both the growing probability factor, with the huge consequence factor, we see a resulting risk that is very large. We believe this assessment easily justifies the expense and effort of installing hardened NBC shelters.

There are certain classes of facilities that attract nuclear warheads in the first round of an attack. Any facility connected with America’s nuclear forces will be brought under attack in the first salvo including ICBM fields and launch control facilities and command and control centers such as NORAD in Colorado Springs and the Air Force command center in Omaha. Air Force bases hosting long-range bombers, refueling/tanker aircraft, and continental air defense fighter aircraft are obvious first-tier targets.

Any airport with a runway capable of landing a commercial jet would be a recipient of at least one nuclear warhead, most likely fused to burst at or near the ground so as to crater the runway, or at least heave gobs of contaminated material onto and around the runway. Strategists plan this to deny recovery of any surviving bomber or tankers. Any city of more than 200,000 will most likely have runways of this length nearby.

The resulting fallout will kill many thousands of citizens and military personnel. Blast and fire will be a factor for a radius of 6 to 12 miles depending on weapon yield, weather, height of burst, etc. Be aware that weapons and delivery systems malfunction and can miss the intended target (but inevitably hit someone else). Also remember that a “rain-out” can occur increasing the gamma dose-rate by a factor of ten or more, (possibly 10,000 rads per hour) effectively killing everyone in the local area not shielded with an earth cover more than 5 feet thick.

A correctly designed and installed shelter will effectively protect the health of its occupants in this environment, and will do so within 1/2 mile of the center of the detonation. In addition, the sheltered will be relatively comfortable, not just alive.

Civil Defense Redux

As for the Feds, do not despair when you read of secret Raven Rock doomsday bunkers upon which hundreds of billions of your American tax dollars were lavished in the past 80 years as described in Raven Rock: The “day of judgment” Secret Doomsday base for the elect? and RAVEN ROCK: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself–While the Rest of Us Die. The Feds were just trying to stay alive and keep other Americans alive if ballistic Soviet missiles rained down on us as they are on the Israeli’s currently.

These Fed bunker facilities were mostly built and have been in operation since the 1950s and 1960s. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, some government officials recommended the closure of the Washington, D.C. Raven Rock near the Pennsylvania border indefinitely. It was seen as no longer needed. President Herbert Walker Bush actually ordered its closure in 1991.

However, on the second anniversary of the attack on September 11, 2001, the Feds allocated to upgrade it. See the pattern? Brief periods of peace lead to the delusion that peace is a permanent state for mankind. Nothing could be more from the truth.

Understand the fact that you are responsible for your and your family’s safety, health, and welfare. There are things you can do to make sure you not only survive, but prosper. Here are a few.

For your family, prepare by educating yourself about the natural and manmade disasters that will impact your family in your lifetime. As the volunteer vice president of The American Civil Defense Association for 18 years, I have worked to create tools that will protect you and your family. TACDA has been doing so for 65 years.

For example, recently I helped upload 65 years of the Journal of Civil Defense so you can learn about natural and manmade disasters and how to prepare for them. Disasters repeat. Be ready. We also offer a blog, handbooks, videos, and many other free resources to help you. There is a vetted survival store that has items for cost.

Get going today.

Also, the reason I created this Substack American Tactical Civil Defense is to offer tools to help you and your family. As Benjamin Franklin said so well, “Man is a tool-making animal.” As a serial inventor and entrepreneur he understood the importance of human ingenuity and our ability to create and use tools to improve our lives.

To add to your civil defense tool kit, I have dedicated hundreds of hours to writing this American Tactical Civil Defense Substack so you and your family make it through what is coming. I offer it free so everyone who wants to learn it and share it with others is able to do so.

With thousands of hours of previous American civil defense knowledge and experience, I have a duty to you before God to share this specialized information. But only you can demonstrate the stick-to-it-iv-ness to learn it and apply it to your family’s unique circumstances.

Please do.

The Layers of Raven Rock

I’ve been involved in civil defense for American families for over 40 years. I thought I knew the layers of civil defense cake like the wife of a Chesapeake waterman knows the layers of a Smith Island layer cake, but reading the book Raven Rock, I realize I know little.

The layers of Raven Rock (and Mount Weather) were (and are) fare deeper, layered, concealed, secret, hidden, and kept from the American public. Raven Rock is a remarkable story told by Garrett M. Graff in his tome: Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself While the Rest of Us Die.

Raven Rock and Mount Weather operate 24/7/365. Right now. They are not ancient history. They did not shut down once the Berlin Wall came down on November 9th, 1989. Both offer many vital civil defense lessons. Although no on can predict the future, study them to be ready for what is coming.

I have read Graff’s book several times. OK. I’m a civil defense geek. I find it fascinating. Absolutely amazing. Endlessly intellectually stimulating. He confirms civil defense is the Biblical story of surviving God’s manmade disasters and man’s even worse manmade disasters. But I was not prepared for the remarkable story revealed by Garrett M. Graff in this tome. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

How Much did the Raven Rock Program Cost Then and Now

It is easier to understand the Mystery of the Holy Spirit than to understand the Mystery of the Pentagon budget. And that is not by accident. “Black Budget” projects and the American tax money that is paid for projects like Raven Rock are hidden from the American public deliberately.

Graff does a remarkable job of digging out costs of various aspects of Raven Rock in his tome. But he never arrives at a total cost for it because that figure has been kept secret for 80 years and is still kept secret.

Dec 21, 2023 Waste of the Day: With $832 Billion Budget, Pentagon Fails Sixth Consecutive Audit. Ever wonder where do those “disappearing” billions go. Black Projects so no one will ever know. Many Black Projects are underground.

Raven Rock Summary

Here is the short summary if you do not have time to explore the rich knowledge of human nature and military history of the American civil defense program from the back cover of the book.

“The eye-opening true story of the government’s secret plans to survive and rebuilt after a catastrophic attack on U.S. Soil-a narrative that spans from he dawn of the nuclear age to today. For sixty years, the U.S. government has been developing secret Doomsday plans to protect itself int he event of a terrorist or nuclear attack, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms-from its plans to evacuate high-ranking officials to bunkers surrounding Washington, DC, to he prospect of launching nuclear missiles from a Boeing 747 flying high over Nebraska. In Raven Rock, Garrett Graff utilizes thousands of pages of once-classified documents, as well as original interview and visit ss to former and current COG facilities, to track the evolution of the government’s plans and the threats of global war from he Truman administration through the present day. Equal parts a presidential, military, and political history, Raven Rock takes readers through the back channels of government to understand exactly what is at stake if our nation is attacked, and how we’re prepared to respond if it is.”

The most stunning paragraph in this truthful book is this paragraph: “In many ways, after many decades, many billions of dollars, and countless advances in technology, the federal government’s basic plan to escape a catastrophe in Washington remains the same today as it was during that first Operation ALERT during the Eisenhower administration: Run away and hide in the Appalachian Mountains across Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.” p. 406

Stunning.

Having moved myself and my family from the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia/Maryland beltway nuclear target U.S. epicenter of any attack on this nation (and having done the circle analysis of what the destruction of the nation’s capital in a nuclear exchange means that is much more likely from the Communist Chinese Party/People’s Liberation Army than it ever was from the old Soviet Union to the safety of the mountains), I find it interesting that those who came before me in the civil defense community undertook the same analysis and reached the same conclusion: the mountains offer safety. For this reason, there are federal facilities buried all over the mountains of West Virginia too long to list here. But if you want details of all these federal facilities, see Robert C. Byrd: Child of the Appalachian Coalfields.

I will confess here that the rabbit holes with civil defense are endless. Here is just one example.

“Other new hiding places have taken the place of those that were retired. It you weren’t looking for it, you’d be hard pressed to stumble upon the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory, tucked away in the mountainous corner of the Appalachians where West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia all come together. the Mailing address for the massive thousand-acre facility is Rocket Center, West Virginia, a town that technically has no residents and nothing beyond the ABL, a property dating back to World War II that today is split between the Navy and a private contractor named Alliant Technology systems (ATK for short). From State Route 956, which bisects the complex, it looks like just about any other fenced-ff anonymous office part, except a closer examination of the surrounding woods will uncover air shafts rising from underground bunkers and a lot more security cameras and patrols that seemingly necessary for such an isolated complex.” P. 406

I live near the Rocket Center complex. Try to research it. Try to find it. Try to go to it. It exists in the shadows. American civil defense, as before, is the fed employees protecting themselves, as here.

You and your your family are on your own. (Go to tacda.org to help prepare.)

There is so much in this book to inform you about the secret plans for the feds to survive and how they use trillions of your tax dollars to make sure they do. The uber powerful in Washington, D.C. are not made of the morals of George Washington.

As we just saw with what DOGE revealed about the U.S. AID grift, they spend your hard earned dollars to ensure they, and their ilk, survive, be it biological weapons they invent and control or weapons systems they throw around the world without thought to impact of consequence.

You, too, need to prepare yourself and your family for the full threat matrix. Civil defense is for everyone, not just the elite.

Where Top Feds Relocate During an Attack on Washington, DC

Graff spells out clearly where the top feds are relocated if a major attack to Washington, DC makes it unusable for them.

“During an emergency that rendered downtown Washington unusable be these (and other) critical functions would end up on this West Virginia mountaintop, moving into anonymous Building 494 of the Robert C. Byrd Hilltop Office Complex. Wherever the president ended up - perhaps hidden inside Mount Weather or Raven Rock or soaring high above the country in an NEACP plan - and whoever the president ended up being, whether it was the chief executive duly selected by the electoral college or a successor in the National Command Authorities like the Senate president pro tem or the secretary of agriculture, the Emergency Federal Register would be a vital link in governing the nation, just like the presidential nuclear Football. It’s from this hilltop that the string of executive orders, emergency rules, and the implementation of NSPD 51 would unfold, one EFR entry at a time.” Pgs. 408-409.

He also lays out the GSA Form SF 336 that enables continuity communications capabilities.

“Much of COG is now a routine part of government life. For instance, there’s GSA Form SF 336, the four-page “Alternate facility Reporting Form.” which asks agencies to attest that their facilities have a proper documentation and legal agreements in place to occupy the relocation sites, as well as that the facilities are “NCSD 3-10 compliant,” a lengthy and detailed document that lays out the “Minimum Requirements for Continuity Communications Capabilities.” The directive requires secure called and satellite phone capabilities for the senior leadership of all Category I, II, and III organizations and more robust classified systems for the most critical agencies. It also requires agencies to have communication capabilities for leadership in transit to the alternate location - an attempt to limit the problems of 9/11 and to encourage senior leaders to actually travel to the relocation sites if they can.” p. 388

NOTE: When I inspected State (Texas, South Dakota, Utah, California, etc.) Emergency Operations Center’s Emergency Operations Plans in the mid-1980’s, most of them had 20-years worth of dust on them. Just because it is in the plan does not mean anyone knows it or, more importantly, exercises the plan to find its strengths and weaknesses and then conducts lessons learned and continuous process improvement. That is why the contribution of the private sector is so critical. The feds know this and it is why they hand out so many contracts to contractors to get the job done.

Ensuring the Continuity of the Federal Register

Consider this passage from Raven Rock that explains how critical the Federal Register is to the continuity of government. They take it seriously. So should you.

“ABL now stands as the primary COOP facility for a group of important agencies, including national security components of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Archives. While the National Archives sounds like it’d be an unnecessary appendage during the an emergency, it actually runs one of the most vital legal functions of the U. S. Government: The Federal Register stands as the daily rundown of all the new laws, rules, regulations, and standards that the government announces. To oversimplify the federal paper trail just a bit, nothing is officially enacted or implemented by the government until it appears in the printed Federal Register-making it one of the least understood and least known but most critical functions to preserve on a day-to-day basis.” P. 407

Raven Rock Underground Bunker Facility

Raven Rock is located in Adams County, Pennsylvania, the same county that endured the slaughter of men at nearby Gettysburg 165 years ago due to the War Between the States or U.S. Civil War or the War of Northern Aggression…depending on your take.

“Locals called the mysterious project on the Beard Lot a number of names: the Little Pentagon, the Alternate Pentagon, [whereas] the Army provided an official label-naming the mountain after a rock pillar nearby: Raven Rock. Most government officials, though, knew it by its code name: SITE R. It became operational on June 30, 1953, five months after Eisenhower became president, with just over 100,000 square feet of office space, not counting the corridors, bathrooms, dining facility, infirmary, or the communications and utilities areas, and could hold about 1,400 personnel comfortably.” Pgs. 51-52.

“In 2010, the Pentagon spent $8.4 million upgrading Raven Rock’s secondary power to a more powerful generator. In 2014, it upgraded Raven Rock’s administrative facility for $32 million and built a new exterior cooling tower for another $4.1 million. None of that work, though, counts the tens of millions of dollars the Pentagon’s Washington headquarters Service pays to support Raven Rock, nor the personnel costs associated with manning the watch center and battle staff.” p. 404

“Raven Rock has grown dramatically since 9/11. In 2001, the Defense Department listed the site as consisting of fifty-nine buildings with 450,000 square feet…and by 2012, the facility was composed of sixty-six buildings and 615,000 square feet of space. Just a year later, in 2013, it had grown to sixty-nine buildings and 639,000 square feet.” P. 396

The base proceeds with all the various projects necessary to support a huge, expensive infrastructure, all watched over by the Pentagon Force Protection Agency and the 572nd Military Policy Company, knows as the ‘Keepers of the Rock.’” P. 396

This is a massive military base designed to be the Pentagon if the Pentagon was no longer available. It is a free-standing city. It is fully staffed. It will survive as will those located inside of it. The feds plan to survive. You should, too.

Mount Weather Underground Bunker Facility

Mount Weather, near Upperville, Virginia, was the civilian fed employee bunker like the military employee Raven Rock bunker. “In 1954, down in Virginia, the government began…building a bunker that would house the civilian arm of the government…known…as a weather forecasting facility: Mount Vernon. Raven Rock and Mount Weather would serve as the core of the governments Doomsday planning for the next seven decades.” p. 52

Mount Weather itself has no airplane runways, just a long grass strip and concrete helipads, but a few miles away, down at the base of the mountain in Upperville, Virginia, the sprawling palatial 2,000-acre estate known as Oak Spring Farms has an odd feature: a paved private airstrip…The estate’s private airstrip…came into existence in the 1950’s, just as government miners began to excavate the bunker at Mount Weather.”

This is a massive fed civilian base designed to be the fed civilian equivalent of Raven Rock. It is a free-standing city. It is also fully staffed. It will survive as will those located inside of it. The feds plan to survive. You should, too.

Again, the feds have spent hundreds of billions to make sure they survive. You can afford a couple hundred to make sure your family has a year’s supply of food, water, and medicine.

What have the American People Gotten for the Hundreds of Billions Spent on Raven Rock, Mount Weather, and other U.S. Government Underground Bunkers

I’ll let Graff say it. “In many ways, after many decades, many billions of dollars, and countless advances in technology, the federal government’s basic pan to escape a catastrophe in Washington remains the same today as it was during that first Operation ALERT, during the Eisenhower administration: Run away and hide in the Appalachian Mountains across [Pennsylvania], Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.” P. 406

Are you surprised?

Let’s take it down to a simple example. A predator kicks down your door intent on assaulting you and your family. Yes, you call the government 911 number, but you do not depend on them to protect your family from harm. You are responsible for the safety of your family and that is a grave duty.

As well, your own and your families protection if a catastrophic manmade or natural disaster strikes dictates that you need to take the steps necessary to provide for your families continuity. As has been true from the beginning of time, families are the bedrock of a successful nation. Nations are built on families, not the other way around.

How to Know if Things are Going to get Spicy

I am old enough to have lived through many predictions the world is about to end and here are the signs of the Doomsday. Yet, Christ was clear. In Mark 13:32, he states: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

However, there are clear indications when a crisis, of which there will be thousands of minor ones and dozens of major ones in your lifetime (a manmade disaster is another name for it) will happen. For example, after 9/11, the following uptick in activity around Raven Rock and Mount Weather occurred. So, it’s pretty easy to know thing are going to get spicy, for the same activity described below will occur in the next major crisis, so you can prepare accordingly. After all, until recently, would you have believed ballistic missiles would be raining down on Israel by the hundreds?

“As [9/11] fall arrived in the Appalachian Mountains around Washington, residents of the small communities around Raven Rock and Mount Weather had become used to clattering helicopters arriving and departing - as well as the other disturbances that came with living near the nation’s Doomsday headquarters. ‘Day and night, you hear the airplanes,’ said Bonnie Wolfe, who owned the hobby shop in nearby Blude Ridge, Pennsylvania. At Mount Weather, black netting went up alongside the perimeter fences bordering the facility to obscure the work and personnel from passersby, and new surface-to-air defenses were loaded into the site. The lumbering buses, trucks, fighters, and helicopters announced America’s new, permanent “shadow government,” a group of 75 to 150 civilian officials spread between Raven Rock and Mount Weather who would support the “presidential successor.”

The haphazard evacuation on 9/11 had settled in the following weeks into ninety-day rotations of teams working inside the mountains. Most of those pulling “bunker duty” were top civilian managers from the GS-14 and GS-15 ranks of the government workforce, as well as from the Senior Executive Service.” Pgs. 366-67

Additional Resources

Garrett M. Graff, author of Raven Rock, Talk about the Book at the Ford Presidential Library

Garrett M. Graff Talk Before the National Archives about Raven Rock

Government Attic

Digital National Security Archive at the University of Washington

Federation of Atomic Scientists

Swiss Civil Defense: The Gold Standard

The population of Switzerland is well trained in subjects ranging from weapons effects, first aid, shelter management, and rescue techniques. Shelter drills are conducted along with large scale exercises to familiarize the citizenry with shelter life. It only follows that many millions of man-hours of experience have been gained from these exercises, and modifications to shelters and related equipment designs have evolved into today’s proven shelter component lineup.

The Swiss government testing agencies have conducted numerous (and on-going) destructive testing of shelter designs and components. This is done by building prototype shelters and then challenging them with live high explosive ordnance. Because of this fierce determination to remain neutral and free, the Swiss are driven to produce only the finest shelter equipment to be found.

Switzerland, a tiny landlocked country in central Europe, has had a long standing policy of armed neutrality. Completely surrounded by warring world powers during both world wars, the Swiss have been able to avoid war and retain their freedom by virtue of being too expensive to conquer.

The rugged terrain of their country is also a factor. In addition to a rather large citizen army (700,000 in 1999), they have deployed the world’s most effective civil defense program and consider it an integral part of their nation’s defense.

Since the 1970’s, Switzerland’s building codes have required the incorporation of hardened shelters into the construction of new apartment buildings, homes, businesses, churches, hospitals, and factories.

Shelters must be built to rigid government specifications and use only components approved by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Defense (BZS). This demand for approved shelter equipment created a national industry in Switzerland that continues to this day. If threatened, the Swiss can shelter its entire population of seven- and one-half million citizens in blast hardened shelters on short notice.

The Splendid Routine

It is in the routines life is mastered,

not the spectacular or heady.

It is the sandwich made again

and again to the same perfection,

that feeds the millions;

The 2 x 4 placed in the same position

as a thousand times before

that builds the house for millions;

the prayer prayed with humble precision

that reaches the ear of God.

So, despite the media feeding frenzy,

the 15 minutes of fame, the opening night

glory, the awarders giving each other awards

in Hollywood’s special desperation,

or the worship of the crowd in the stands

at the sports cathedral’s ritual of discipline

and moxy granting blessing and benediction,

Remember this:

the same crowd that worships

in the stands has a cadre nearby

fashioning the crown of thorns,

and preparing the cross and nails

It is in the routine task done well

family life rewards and the world ignores

that generations continue;

leave the mere heady moments to the world.

Girl at the Deli

You walk into this friggin’ deli where you’ve

never been before all summer hot and friggin’ angry

and there, behind the counter, she stands,

lips big enough for a zip code,

hair as fine as spun yellow satin and silk

and translucent skin that breaks your heart in two...

you look right at her and stammer, “c..c...c...coffee”

and she says back, “two or three sugars?”

and you stumble again “uh...two...uh...three”

and cotton wads grow in your mouth,

you smile wanly and she smiles back

so unspoiled and athletic and young

and that chemical reaction starts

in your brain and WHAAAAAAAMMM!!!

once again life has possibilities and hope.

She brings you a cup of coffee

and you sip it and want to spit it out

because it tastes like it’s been there since World War II

but you smile instead because you notice

how fine and bright and clean her eyes speak to you now

and although you want to say “Dear God!

How can you sell this turpentine as coffee?!”

you smile again and gulp it down quickly

and say, “Just what I needed! Hits the spot real well!”

And she smiles and says, “Best for miles around!

How long have you been in these parts?!”

and now you know the chemical explosions

are going off in her brain, too,

so you drink some more coffee

that is so toxic and strong and fierce

that your taste buds have all mutinied

but even it cannot kill the wonderful chemicals

that now grant you the absolution, benediction,

and grace of love and suddenly you know

Robert Graves knew what he was talking about:

for here, between the provolone cheese and the Zinfandel wine,

is clear and living proof of the unbroken chain

between the ancient Celts and the current White Goddess.