Chiyo Nohara, no name
for CNN, mad-media, corporate
trumpeters, models of fascism
a billion plus deaths by a trillion
nano-transactions, big lie full
of maggots of a million mistruths
she is hero, Rachel Carson, Lois
Gibbs, any number a million
never mentioned by the titans
of titillation, worse yet vilified
each ignoble corporation in these
heroes’ cross-sites lifted to demigod
status by the whores and pimps
in media
listen to her words, Japanese economist
government researcher, ensconced in
academia, Chiyo, age 55
embarks on deadly hunt of how, why
Fukushima Daiichi, butterflies
swollen with radionuclides
she visits with team 15 sites
butterfly nets swooshing next
to Geiger counters, pale grass
blue butterfly (Zizeeria maha)
environmental indicator
amazing color patterns shape-shifting
by temperature variations, radioactive
bombardment
oxalis corniculata flower contaminated by radionuclides
Chiyo and husband collect contaminated oxalis
middle-aged, protecting younger biology students
from the bombardment of alpha-beta-gamma rays
mutations, her own body inside skin
drifting toward death, all the lies
of Japan, media, incredible untruthfulness of
unbeingness, floating in corporate air
government thugs denying the science
of winged migration, butterflies
floating from Chiyo’s grave, her sixty
year old body flooded with mutation
for the cause of her people, truth
up against stolen trillions
these people selling TV Olympics
people born of philosophers:
Kūkai, Yamazaki Ansai, Motoori Norinaga
“A frog in a well does not know the great sea.”
(People are satisfied to judge things
by their own narrow experience,
never knowing of the wide world outside.)
“Wake from death and return to life.”
(To come out of a desperate situation
and make a complete return in one sudden burst.)
“Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon.”
(Experience the beauties of nature,
and in doing so learn about yourself.)
Baka ga atte riko ga hikitatsu.
(Due to the presence of fools wise people stand out.)
the road to self and discovery
bombarded by homogenizing forces
Chiyo beloved mother
passes into the star dust
cellular reincarnation
immortality the sign of heroism
lab coat, the toil of thinkers
up against machine people
reinforced propaganda gauntlets
“She died in the cause of scientific truth”
Dedication to her work, bravery
Prime Minister Abe, pockets full of gold,
declares Olympic Bid Committee —
“the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is under control”
as mutations percolate up, each next generation
brother fin, wing, gill, mammal, us
Japan, Pacific, from sea to nuclear sea
as we fight to remember Chiyo Nohara.1