Fukushima Artistic & Literary Response a Global Dialogue
Saint Julian Press has created this page where artistic and literary response will be shared with Fukushima as the theme. Artists, poets, and writers are encourage to share their work on a special FaceBook page in literary and artistic dialogue that promotes conversations and positive actions on Fukushima and a healing of planet earth, our home. Work submitted through the FaceBook page will eventually be shared here on these pages.
Fukushima by Gayle J. Greenlea
Rippling on translucent waves
the sighs of sick children
cesium, tritium, strontium
streaming away from the scene of the crime
on the backs of fish
on the smooth, cool currents
the anguish of parents like seeds
rising in a plume of invisible poison
blown like so much fluff on the whim of the wind
Fukushima, you leak tears
salt and venom
vengeful spite for nature’s omnipotence
you weep in anger, rage roiling in your bowels
a heat that must be constantly cooled
yet no amount of soothing will calm your flame
You threaten to melt down, begin an unstoppable chain reaction
to show your might
the nay-sayers were right
Einstein among them, when he said you were a hell of a way to boil water
and now we hover in alert mode
patrolling your tanks, ready to lovingly caress your rods
to appease you
to stop your monster’s mouth from consuming the children
so their sighs will not disturb our sleep
and their cries will not wake us
We will pour water over you forever
a baptism to hold back the fire
a torment to remind ourselves that we are doomed
to repeat this affair
if we crave power more than we care for the children
their voices growing softer on the waves, more distant
until they are barely audible, anymore
their throats ruined by thyroid cancer
their eyes wide with the question,
“Why?”
Copyright 2013
Gayle J. Greenlea
the sighs of sick children
cesium, tritium, strontium
streaming away from the scene of the crime
on the backs of fish
on the smooth, cool currents
the anguish of parents like seeds
rising in a plume of invisible poison
blown like so much fluff on the whim of the wind
Fukushima, you leak tears
salt and venom
vengeful spite for nature’s omnipotence
you weep in anger, rage roiling in your bowels
a heat that must be constantly cooled
yet no amount of soothing will calm your flame
You threaten to melt down, begin an unstoppable chain reaction
to show your might
the nay-sayers were right
Einstein among them, when he said you were a hell of a way to boil water
and now we hover in alert mode
patrolling your tanks, ready to lovingly caress your rods
to appease you
to stop your monster’s mouth from consuming the children
so their sighs will not disturb our sleep
and their cries will not wake us
We will pour water over you forever
a baptism to hold back the fire
a torment to remind ourselves that we are doomed
to repeat this affair
if we crave power more than we care for the children
their voices growing softer on the waves, more distant
until they are barely audible, anymore
their throats ruined by thyroid cancer
their eyes wide with the question,
“Why?”
Copyright 2013
Gayle J. Greenlea