Nagasaki Poem by Susan Detlefsen

War is stupid
No English is needed.
No words
Can convey
Convoy.
How many students from Chiba
from Osaka, Sapporo,
young university students from Waseda
from Tokyo
How many
Will I host
Before the guilt washes away.

Watashi wa debu obasan
(Me fat grandma)
I try to break her silence
Show her that an American host mom
Knows a little Japanese
Very bad, but still an effort
To speak her language.
A giggle bursts out as we sit down
To look at the photos of her
In the beautiful photo album
She made for the trip, just for me.
Where is this, I ask
Admiring the beautiful night scene of a city in Japan.
Nagasaki.
I smiled and made a comment at each photo.
But I stopped.
Nagasaki.
What could I say?
What pleasanterie could I pronounce
And still feel decent.
Nagasaki.
She does not remember
Does not blame
Does not recognize
The tear that tries to sneak out
As I muffle my shame.
I did not personally drop any bomb.
Nor have any say
About anyone"s fate that day.
Still, her innocent willingness to forgive and forget
Her not knowing
Only magnified my guilt.
How far is she removed from one of the incinerated citizens.
We look at her girls' festival photo
Tokyo Disney photos
She explains it is actually Chiba Disney—not Tokyo!
And reminds me Narita is not in Tokyo either.
Narita is in Chiba!
Proud girl from Japan.
I turn the page back to the beautiful night scene.
Nagasaki I whisper
As I softly run my hand over the photo.
I look at her.
War is stupid.
She nods.
War is stupid.
There are no words.
And I would happily sacrifice
All the poems
and eloquent words anyone has ever pronounced
in the name of decrying war
To take it back.
To pull naughty little boy
Back into his plane
And just fly it away.
If I could
Turn back time.
If anyone could
Turn it around.
But we go on.
We forgive.
War is stupid.
We turn the page.
Sena in Paris and Mont St. Michel.
Life is beautiful after all.