Emily Dickinson and Fukushima Daiichi

Emily Dickinson was haunted by the ‘deepening menace’ of death
Many of those close to her died and
She lived across from a cemetery and
She was human like the rest of us and
Smarter than most of us
So she knew what awaited and
Could imagine what didn’t and
It troubled her
She knew well that
Sometimes the truths’ surprise isn’t superb
Or surprising
Like when
It rides in on a wave and
Vents out of a damaged nuclear reactor and
Falls down on those who would stand up to oppression
But especially when
It comes at us in the form of tombstones
Funerals
Headaches
New pains
Old friends
Oil covered birds washed up on beautiful beaches
Documentaries about euthanasia
Births in the front seat of cars and
Begonias in the winter
It’s dazzling and
Haunting and
Blinds us all eventually
Even if we never really look
At the menace all round us and
In us