Category Archives: Gardening

‘I’ve got the Fukushima Blues’, by Glenda Cimino

Even though it’s not in the news,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Strontium 90 on the grass,
Iodine 131, cesium, plutonium –
Cow’s milk is poisoned in your glass,
But don’t tell- there’d be pandemonium!

Three reactors in meltdown,
Tepco now confess
But where the radioactive water’s gone,
Is anybody’s guess.

Even though they say I have nothing to lose,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Radiation spikes sky high,
People told to stay indoors,
Animals abandoned to sicken and die,
Workers sleeping on radioactive floors.

Radiation in your taps should not alarm,
They lie; for radiation will accumulate
Over days and years; but this sure harm
They do not want you to contemplate.

Even though it is not in the news,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Have to evacuate another town
Radioactive dust on the school playground
Will people take this lying down?
Maybe the living were better off drowned.

The heat and power of the nuclear sun
Burning down through layers of our earth
Do they know what they have done?
Officials argue and resign, for what it’s worth

Even though they say I have nothing to lose,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Anonymous workers facing certain death
Trying so hard the leaks to stem
Tepco cannot pay for their last breath-
Nothing but crackers and rice for them.

‘We’re sorry’, they bow, ‘we made a mistake’
-Truth is, that Tepco was often warned-
But ‘who would expect a 9.0 earthquake?’
They took no action, the advice was scorned.

Even though it is not in the news,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Who needs to fear a terrorist
When respected companies act like this?
Covering it up and playing it down,
It isn’t their children on that playground.

There’s nothing to worry about,
Forget it, you haven’t a care-
Just don’t drink the water, eat the food,
Or breathe the air.

Even though they say I have nothing to lose,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Deadly radiation released into the Pacific
Poisoning the fish humanity will need
The amount? Can’t be specific-
Measure it in units of human greed.

Nuclear energy so safe, so cheap –
But what is the cost not in their calculations
As a poisoned world we all will reap,
With more cancer, leukemia and genetic mutation.

 Even though it is not in the news,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Empty towns with deadened lights -
No one could take the time to pack
No need now for energy on dark nights -
Get out while you can, and never look back.

O babes of Chernobyl- what have we done?
Generations damaged beyond repair.
Is this also the fate of the land of the rising sun?
O nuclear fools, learn how to see and care!

Even though they say I have nothing to lose,
I’ve got the Fukushima Blues.

Four hundred and forty nuclear plants
And some still want to build some more
I’ve been accused of anti-nuclear rants -
But is energy really worth dying for?

We all live on only one planet
Travelling around our sun -
We’d better learn to take good care of it;
Surely even nuclear execs can count to one.

They say all will be well in this nuclear hell,
and I’ve nothing to lose-but- I’m telling you-
they’re giving our world the Fukushima Blues.

© Glenda Cimino ,all rights reserved. First published in News Four.

I am adding here a link to Glenda Cimino’s Poem Mr. Sarasota, published  in A.B Edwards archives , with thanks to Glenda for the poems. You can read Glenda Cimino’s  ’Cicada’ poem here.

Bird poems from Poethead

Preamble to  The Valley by  Kerry Hardie

‘The first valley is the Valley of the Quest,
the second the Valley of Love
the third is the Valley of Understanding
the fourth is the Valley of Independence and Detachment
the fifth of Pure Unity
the sixth is the Valley of Astonishment
and the seventh is the Valley of Poverty and Nothingness
beyond which one can go no further. ‘

from , The Conference of the Birds by Farid ud-Din Attar, written in the second half of the twelfth century AD. This rendering in english is by C.S Nott.

I published a short poem of condolence this week for the victims of atrocity in Norway, and got to thinking about the bird poems that are linked on the blog. There are quite a few bird  poems,  as there are images scattered on the blog. I thought to link them here today.

The avatar that I chose for Poethead is  a bird,  Max Ernst’s image  is one of a set  of  lithographs used in his illustration of René Crevel‘s  Babylon . My avatar image is just below this short post on the bottom right-hand column of  the Poethead home page (and all of the pages on this blog) .

The Bird Poems from Poethead.

Ireland, by Richard Ryan

‘Treeline’ (1977) by TP Flanagan , from ‘The Delighted Eye’

Ireland

“That ragged
leaking raft held
 between sea and sea

its long
forgotten cable melting
into deeper darkness where,

at the root
of it, the slow
 sea circles and chews.

Nightly the dark-
ness lands like hands
to mine downward. springing

tiny leaks
till dawn finds
field is bog , bog lake. “

by Richard Ryan

Ravenswood. The Dolmen Press , publ. 1973

National Campaign for the Arts, Ireland: National Recovery Plan (November 24) Impact on the Arts.

Savings of €76 million need to be made by 2014 : NCFA Response to the NRP 24/11/2010.

The NCFA has issued a very restrained response to the proposed Governmental cuts in Arts and Heritage (Including Cultural Institutions), So it’s linked here, whilst I examine the faulty RSS feed:

These are being frontloaded in 2011 with a cut of €26 million. Final figures will be announced on Budget Day.€50 million will be saved over the remaining 3 years.

Only €5 million of this €26 million will come from a reduction in allocations to cultural institutions and cultural projects. See below:

* Reduced allocations to cultural institutions and cultural projects €5 million

* Reduced funding for sporting bodies and agencies including Irish Sports Council and National Sports Campus €3 million

* Reduction in tourism expenditure through operational efficiencies, prioritisation of activities and more focused tourism marketing investment €5 million

We checked with the Department today and we understand that the €5 million cut to culture covers Budget Lines D1-D10 in the annual budget . In other words €5 million has to be saved from across the following budget lines. How much each will be reduced by will be announced on Budget Day on Dec 7th.”

 Slight Rant  : Fianna Fáil Planning 2000-2010 and how it effects Ireland’s natural and built heritage.

Unfortunately , the issue here is of trust. The jaundiced and repellent Fianna Fáil approach to Arts, Heritage and Culture (including Gaelteacht Affairs) does not allow for green shoots, but presents instead a hackneyed and twee vision of Ireland. I do not think there will be a radical change in policy without a change in Government. Other Poethead Posts and Pages on this issue include petitions for Independent Writers Centres funds not to be cut, the PH  links to Save Tara and include  the truly illiterate Blasphemy Criminalisation into Irish law in January 2010.  Even when the country was rolling in money , Fianna Fáil heritage policy involved swapping actual Heritage centres for interpretative Centres, and under-funding the National Library archives to the point of not providing them with heat, climate-control or decent storage spaces.

The Irish Green Party :  ‘If you sup with the divil, best bring a long spoon made of  Asbestos’.

Its pretty obvious that I have been opposed to Governmental policy in the Arts since the 2003 Arts Act, and since 2000 in relation to Fianna Fáil’s consistent negligence in heritage affairs, which have seen a raft of planning bills introduced into the Dáil which have been not balanced with Bills that focus on Conservation of Ireland’s natural and built Heritage. I suppose that when the EU , banks and planning investigations complete , the current Green party will hold up its hands and admit they didn’t know about what has been blindingly obvious to everyone else all along. The fact that we are and have been in Breach of EU Directive does not bother individuals or party members , because they have not been criminalised and/or brutalised for pointing out years of abject failures or profit-centred planning, including the National Monuments Act 2004, The SIB 2006, The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 which is delightfully known as the Trespass Law . In the period between 2000-2006 , Fianna Fáil did not present a single Act wholly focused on conservation, one can see where their priorities lie quite clearly and it must be said those of their junior coalition partner too.

National Campaign For Arts Statements
 Save Tara Campaign
 Planning Bills can be examined at the Oireachtas site, the Strategic Infrastructure Bill 2006 , is of particular interest here.
 The National Monuments Act 2004 , allows for destruction of heritage sites by a sitting Minister for Environment
 The 2006 Strategic Infrastructure Bill restructures the Irish courts to fast-track Developer-led planning and takes to pieces the Aarhus Convention ( a central platform of Green  Party Policy)
National Campaign for Arts , Ireland.

National Campaign For the Arts, Ireland

‘Aviary’ by Tom MacIntyre.

Aviary (I – excerpted)

By Tom MacIntyre

“Spirit-birds love
black of the bog,
banks loaded,
juice on the spade,
 
from nowhere gather
in celebration,
taste the action,
call it home.
 
You venture close :
pacey echoes
stir and murmur
names forgone,
 
Whimbrel, Whinchat,
Grebe, Merganser,
the names don’t fit
quite, the birds mind
 
their own business,
a heron shows,
lifts, departs,
you’ve met before,
 
that’s the hero
nicked your cap
and will not, will not
give it back…..”

‘Bird in the Sun’ by Leonard Baskin

Barrie Cooke ‘Big Forest’ (Irish Times)