A Apology

by Natalie Harkin

(reprint from Dirty Words, Cordite Press Inc., Victoria, Australia, 2015, pp.1–2)

Our people have lived with the consequences of unwanted uranium mining for over three decades.

-Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, 23 August 2014

 

 

one million litres

uranium-waste                spilling

Kakadu's wetlands

 

another toxic

reminder                     Fukushima's

seismic-wave-lament

 

where black-rain falls              out

seeps      beyond exclusion zones

that absorb like skin

 

Evacuate Now!

don't breathe     suns      set forever

on yesterday's light

 

for years         oceans will

drift Japan's meltdown-horror

on global currents

 

uranium source?

                Kakadu Australia

two lands united

 

from Kakadu to

Japan                this mournful haunting

echoes       Chenobyl

 

with heart-resolve

Traditional Owners state

their Apology

 

Welcome Mr Naoto Kan

[ex-Prime Minister of Japan]

we are very sad

we are very sad

the ongoing disaster

in Japan

come witness the impact

of where it began

at the start

of this nuclear

cycle

 

while Coalition-

Governments mock          unmoved        by

another Sorry

 

(see Land Rights; Wilderness; Zero Tolerance)