Are you interested in applying to THINK Global School but aren’t quite sure if it’s right for you? That’s OK! It’s a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. To help you in your application process, we’ve put together a list of five things we feel every applicant to THINK Global School should know. We hope you find them helpful. 1) You’ll gain an education by living and learning in the...
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I saw fragments of people
hovering between life and death
I saw human canvas
painted with black
glistening
bits and pieces of the charred human suit
fell to the burning ground
revealing everything underneath
every thought
every hope
every dream
every love
every loss
every hurt
no longer protected by the melting mask
enveloped by the never-ending fire
it was beautiful
like a distant star dying
like cancer under a microscope
a dance of red, grey and flesh.
I closed my eyes
and saw nothing
but felt
felt the screams of skeletons reduced to dust
felt the skin ripping off callous working hands
felt the radiation stabbing unborn foetus
felt the future wrestled out of helpless grip
I felt everything
turned to nothing.
I searched
for my father
for my mother
for my little brother
for my school
for my skirt
for the tree in our backyard
where the nightingale hided
but all I could find
among the flame of hell
among meandering lost souls
among the ruins of our holy war
only ashes
scattered by the gentle wind
into the unyielding rivers of Hiroshima
into the scalding earth of our home
into the mushroom cloud in the red sky
I wondered
how long she waited.
Now I’m breathing in
these ashes
of homes, of schools, of streets,
these ashes
of flesh, of blood, of bones
these ashes
of the cruel bomb
tearing my lungs to scraps
slice me open
and display me like a war trophy
put my head on a stake
and leave my eyes wide open
I’m breathing in
these ashes
of death
undignified
brutal
awaiting.
I’m with you
in our search
in our loss
in our grief
I’m with you
in our agony
in our pain
in our wounds that rip the body apart
like claws of a beast
kept growing
no matter how much we tried
to forget
I’m with you
in our ignorance
in our isolation
when the scars felt too real
and the voices became too loud
I’m with you
in the tear-stained bandages
in the handful of pills
in the endless halls of hospitals after hospitals
where we were convicted of a crime
we didn’t commit
but the jury was merciless
and we were given a slip of paper
sentencing us to death
and there was no appeal
but a thousand cranes
little Sadako was innocent.
I hate America
I hate America
I hate America
I hate America
but the loved ones are lost.
in the office of D.C.
under the stars and stripes
under the pressure to bring the boys home
under the insatiable thirst for revenge
under the adrenaline of plutonium bombs
under the intense gaze of the USSR
Truman had started the journey to imminent desolation
with that 50-kiloton blast
he can’t turn back
can’t give back what is gone.
The things I kept
mother’s hair
a left shoe with a mended hole
a book burnt brown
a picture of a happier past that won’t come back
a hatred
a regret
a sorrow.
Now the pain is nothing
but a dull ache
the scars are nothing
but a reminder
the voices are nothing
but quiet whispers
the war is nothing
but history
the red sky is nothing
but sunrise.
still the fire
burns cold
beautifully
I wondered
how long I waited.
Hiroshima, Tokyo, Saigon, Hanoi, March 15-16, 2014