1. Japanese Fisherman Nuclear Winter
Aikichi
Kuboyama,
forty years of age
on May 9, 1954.
Chief radio operator
on the Lucky Dragon.
When the nuclear fallout
from the nuclear war test
contaminated
your humble ship
you were not so lucky.
Neither your parents, wife,
and your seven wonderful children
survivors of Hiroshima 9 years before
harshly convicted to life-long suffering
without the possibility of parole.
You were the first Japanese victim
to radioactively burn – and die
by virtue of imported H-Bomb tests
made in America, America First.
Our Father, Who art in heaven
hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven –
You prayed to be the last victim,
but it was not
to be,
Aikichi
Kuboyama,
brother friend
日本の漁師核冬
愛知県
久保山、
40歳
1954年5月9日。
チーフラジオオペレータ
2. Hiroshima Boy Wins American Marathon
146, 000 people burnt down
in Hiroshima and 80, 000 in
Nagasaki during World War II
roughly half of the municipal BBQs
occurred on the first day, one inferno
was clearly not enough, to make the point
everything was flat, roughty toughty Tanaka
told the 'Boston Globe' newspaper
the day after he won the marathon
I saw roasted Japanese bodies floating in the water
and in the rubble still. Dirty water was gushing out
of broken pipes everywhere
some Hiroshima steakhouses had been roped off
by the police. In the big buildings, inside,
they were all gone with the wind
Some of the walls still stood, but they were cracked
and useless – like World Trade Center 9/11
everything had to be torn down
14-year-old Tanaka had witnessed
from a nearby village as an atomic bomb crippled
grandparent's city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
On April 19, 1951 Tanaka nicknamed the
'Atomic Boy' won the American Marathon
in Boston, Massachusetts
a Pyrrhic victory? Perhaps so
yet quite significant
as a landslide moral triumph
– Love trumps Hate
広島日
火災によって裁判
多く涙
Hiroshima-bi
Kasai ni yotte saiban
Ōku namida
3. Hiroshima day
Trial by fire
Many tears
長崎日
の空からの火
苦しむの
Nagasaki-bi
No sora kara no hi
Kurushimu no
4. Nagasaki day
Fire from the sky
Are you suffering?
5. The Poet's Calling
の心臓聞く
詩人が書くとき
同情をもって
動物が歌う
人生を尊重する
No shinzō kiku
Shijin ga kaku toki
Dōjō o motte
Dōbutsu ga utau
Jinsei o sonchō suru
Listen to your heart
When the poet writes
With sympathy
Animals sing
Respect life
6. Audacious Schoolgirls Of Hiroshima
You
who weep although you have no ducts for tears
who cry although you have no lips for words
who wish to clasp
although you have no skin to touch
You
limbs twitching, oozing blood and foul secretions
eyes all puffed-up slits of white
tatters of fearless underwear
your only clothing now
yet with no thought of shame
ah! How fresh and lovely you all were
a flash of time ago
when you were school girls, a flash ago
who could believe it now?
You
schoolgirls with courageous hope
do not be timid-silent, speak up
to fight against the adults all over the world
who are trying to bring about more nuclear war
spring out shouting with loud clear voices
hey you there!
hey how are you doing?
we could go see a War and Peace movie
your dare-devil round eyes shining
and open your death-or-glory arms
free to hug everyone, even air force pilots
give a reckless embrace that will bring back
tears of good to everyone's heart
then spring at them all over the world
shouting, We are the intrepid schoolgirls,
the heroic children of Hiroshima!
Footnote – Blending and quoting two classic poems from Sankichi Toge (1917–1953): An Atomic Survivor, (i) The Children Of Hiroshima and (ii) At The First Aid Station, July 15, 2017.
7. Human Dignity After Hiroshima
the survivors of Hiroshima
were erected by Kenzaburō Ōe
as a figure of human dignity
whether they choose suicide
or
perhaps more difficult
and more heroic
in the eyes of the author,
who raised a child
with mental disorder,
they have chosen
not to commit suicide
Footnote – Kenzaburō Ōe (1935–) is a Japanese writer and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature. His novels deal with political, social and philosophical issues, including nuclear weapons, non-conformism, and existentialism. Ōe was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994, July 15, 2017.
Michael Spangle – Michael Spangenthal – Violette Beaujant
– Ensemble Matsu Bashô Haiku –
Chicago – San Francisco – Carcassonne
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Thermo-nuclear Exuberance
PoetryAs outlined by Noam Chomsky, the growing threats of nuclear war and environmental catastrophe make it hard to bet on the survival of our species. This bundle contains 7 haiku poems written in the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after 100 years...
