Skip to main content

Nuclear Family Affair

I recently read this book: Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats. 

 I couldn't stop reading, even when I was horrified and frustrated by the government coverups, the nuclear disasters, and the persistent denial that plutonium dust in the wind around the general Denver area was a problem.

Still processing, I wrote this long haiku:

Fukushima still
Leaks. Nearly three years later,
Oceans and air fill

With poisons. Unknown:
their full power, permanence,
possibility.

West Coast counters ping.
Measuring high, off the charts.
Radiation moves.

Do we still recall
Chernobyl and Rocky Flats?
Who will be a voice

For Three-Mile Island
Or Lucenz? Did we forget
Not so long ago

Destruction promised?
Mutually assured, we
Worked fevered, counting

Our efforts as so
Much patriotism. Safety
Was secondary.

Radiation lives
Up to its name, spreading out
In water and air.

In animals and
Dusting our salad leaves, we
Take every meal with

Delectable sides
Of plutonium, along
With other spices.

Mutual, assured
Destruction has become real.
Nuclear waste kills

Us before we can
Eliminate each other.
Still we don’t, won't quit.

Don’t act. Stay silent,
Confused. Would our government
Lie? Cover up? Say

Something is quite safe
When it is killing us, our
Children, theirs, and theirs?

What cost: energy?
Bomb stockpile must equal X.
When is it enough

Proliferation?
For any country? Person?
When does will it end?

This is my Father's
World. And my children's. Neighbors'
And my enemies'.

Will I pray with my
Feet, hands, voice, dollars, Spirit.
Even if it feels

Futile? Otherwise
Poison hisses over both
Apples and tuna.

Cleaning and clearing
Deserve our every effort
Since mutually

Assured blessings are
Certainly preferable
For all creation.

Fukushima still
Leaks. Nearly three years later,
Oceans and air fill

With poisons. Unknown:
their full power, permanence,
possibility.



Cross-posted at RevGalBlogPals for The Pastoral is Political.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Religious Holidays in Anchorage

You may have read in the Anchorage Daily News about a new policy regarding certain religious holidays and the scheduling of school activities. If not, a link to the article is here . The new rules do not mean that school will be out on these new holiday inclusions, but that the Anchorage School District will avoid scheduling activities, like sporting events, on these days. The new list includes Passover, Rosh Hashanah , Yom Kippur , Eid al - Fitr and Eid al - Adha . They are added to a list which includes New Year's, Orthodox Christmas and Easter, Good Friday, Easter, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. The new holidays may be unfamiliar to some: Passover is a Jewish celebration, in the springtime, that commemorates the events in Egypt that led up to the Exodus. The name of the holiday comes specifically from the fact that the angel of death "passed over" the houses of the Israelites during the plague which killed the eldest sons of the Egyptians. Passover is a holiday
Post a Comment
Read more

Latibule

I like words and I recently discovered Save the Words , a website which allows you to adopt words that have faded from the English lexicon and are endanger of being dropped from the Oxford English Dictionary. When you adopt a word, you agree to use it in conversation and writing in an attempt to re-introduce said word back into regular usage. It is exactly as geeky as it sounds. And I love it. A latibule is a hiding place. Use it in a sentence, please. After my son goes to bed, I pull out the good chocolate from my latibule and have a "mommy moment". The perfect latibule was just behind the northwest corner of the barn, where one had a clear view during "Kick the Can". She tucked the movie stub into an old chocolate box, her latibule for sentimental souvenirs. I like the sound of latibule, though I think I would spend more time defining it and defending myself than actually using it. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure how often I use the
2 comments
Read more

When the Body of Christ is Fat

Bitmoji Julia enjoys tea Within a very short amount of time, two people whom I love were called "fat ass". One of these slurs occurred in the church building and the other occurred in the same building and within the context of worship. Both incidents were the result of a person with already impaired judgment lashing out at the person who was in front of them, perceiving them to be unhelpful or denying aid or service. Regardless of the "why", the reality is that the name was uncalled for, hurtful, and aimed to be a deep cut. The reality is that a person who is under the influence of legal or illegal substances and often displays impaired judgment can still tell that body shaming- comments about shape, appearance, or size- is a way to lash out at someone who is frustrating you. That means those words and that way of using them are deeply rooted in our culture. An additional truth is that when we, as a congregation, attempted to console and listen to those who h
6 comments
Read more