Of a Feather | Environment/Nature |Axisoflogic.com

Axis of Logic columnist, Mankh, has been following and reporting on the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and its aftermath ever since it took place more than two years ago on March 11, 2011. There's been a lot written about it and he has sifted out the truth and is now paying close attention to the extremely hazardous cleanup operation that could spell the end of the world as we know it. - LMB

Of a Feather

birds chirp Morse codes--
in the right moments
you can glean what they mean,
otherwise it is
sweet chatter or warnings.

That they helped win a war is not what impresses me,
rather that the Navaho code talkers language
could not be interpreted, could not be broken

like the deepest of secrets one has with a friend,
or with the One whose name
has never been communicated—

among themselves the birds know,
among themselves the Navaho know.

The staccato of Japanese--
a Morse code to these ears--
aiming to play a most serious game
of pick-up nuclear fuel-rod sticks,
to stop the tide of war on Mother Earth—
and how to heal the Ocean's waters?

And what languages will help save us now?
. . . Those of wind and clouds and water,
of heart to heart and mind to mind,
the language of doves lifting up
into the season's first snow—
both the "caws"
and what that crow didn't say
while perching atop that evergreen,
dwarfing it with his wing-spanned energy

Or human spoken words,
the same essence in any language—
"That's it, keep going, brother" or "No! Move it a little more
towards the center."

Also See: Mankh's poem, Fukushima: Unsung Heroes, accompanying a report on the cleanup of Fukushima's Reactor 4.

Mankh (Walter E. Harris III) is an essayist and resident poet on Axis of Logic. In addition to his work as a writer, he is a small press publisher and Turtle Islander. A new book, “On Behalf of Those Who Speak Different Languages,” is in the works. He also hosts an audio show "Between the Lines: listening to literature online." You can contact him via his literary website.