Ilha Formosa? , A Haibun For Japanese Earthquake And Tsunami Victims Poem by Chen-ou Liu

Sendai earthquake...
the darkness pierced
only by flashlights

At night, I toss and turn, worrying about the long-term health risks for Japan and its neighbors. My homeland, Taiwan, is one of the closest.

Fukushima at dawn -
one vending machine
still glowing

I remember during the late 1990s at the height of the anti-nuclear movement in Taiwan, someone handed me a flyer on the street. It listed important instructions on how to survive a nuclear disaster. The last one on the list said: 'When driving away in the rescue convoy, please remember to look back, because that will be your last sight of Taipei.'

radioactive scare
this a world of dew
and yet...


Notes:

1 In 1544, a Portuguese ship sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it 'Ilha Formosa, ' which means “Beautiful Island.” Taipei is its capital.
2 This poem is a revision of Ilha Formosa? , which was first published in Sketchbook,6: 3, May/June 2011