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NAGASAKI war poem in Genghis Lotus Poetry Collection, a selection of poems free to read online. The Genghis Lotus poems are hosted at two locations, genghislotus.com and zenvirus.com/genghis-lotus/. Webmaster for both sites is poet Hugh Cook, born in Britain, educated in New Zealand, and the author of, amongst other works, the fantasy series Chronicles of an Age of Darkness.
The poem features a cathedral and saints because the Japanese city of Nagasaki, which was destroyed by an American atomic bomb on 9 August 1945, was a city where Christianity was practiced. One of the things that was destroyed by the nuclear blast was a Christian cathedral, and the relics in the humble A-bomb museum in modern-day Nagasaki include the fire-stained statues of saints from the ruined cathedral. The thesis of the poem, in case you are puzzled, is that the destruction of the city of Nagasaki was not an act of virtue, though an act of virtue it has sometimes been construed in the West. |
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Nagasaki! The movie! Love, comedy, special effects! "And then what do they find out? In the entire burning city they don't have Even one spare pair of underpants!" The roulette wheel spins. They win. They have the funding. Go! Symbolic harvest: Pearl Harbor bites back. The carnival of demolitions Is to begin. Laughter Capers through the propeller blades. The plane spills sideways. Drops. The crew lewd with cigars, Dripping with beer, Their party hats askew. Blastback! The thermometer explodes. The hammers are stripped from the clocks. The universe jolts on giraffe legs. Monday Blows a hole through Tuesday. Dogs vomit up spaghetti. The cartwheel spews vinegar. Tofu, sushi, short-grained rice Mingle with blood to a cola. "This we can franchise." After the free chest x-rays The sputum of the swollen rocks Bubbles down and settles. The watchman counts his fingers And finds them thirty. Relaxing feathers flutter from a bird. "Vacant possession," says the realtor, Patting the ashes from her hair. And here, Here in the cathedral of the painted saints, The party kids gather round, Eating the candied eyeballs of the dead Japanese, Drinking the sweet chocolate of the melted stone, Sucking the soft and swollen fingers Of burning Jesus and his blistered congregation, Paddling, grinning, In the trickling liquids of the singing saints. Nagasaki! The movie! Oscar for the best applause track! Can I supersize that for you And give you a bunker buster to go? |
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May be photocopied for classroom use |
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