The crew of the Enola Gay recorded the time of impact
of the hydrogen bomb as 8:16. The official recording
of the Japanese side was 8:15. Probably the bomb
detonated at just before 8:16. This means that when
the moment of silence begins, as it does every year
at exactly 8:15, Hiroshima was bustling with noise:
streetcars packed full of people heading to work
clanked down iron rails; crows cawed as they came
down from the hills and took their places in the fields;
and the collective scream of the cicadas carpeted
every nook and cranny of the sunlit city.
After a while you don’t even hear them.
# # #
Ian Willey is a sociolinguist from Ohio currently living in the Seto Inland Sea area of Japan. He has published hundreds of short poems in on-line and print journals, including Modern Haiku, Right Hand Pointing, and One Sentence Poems.
Photo:
Joy Mahar is an emergent writer living on the outskirts of Detroit. Her work has…
They received a much needed shower this morning: bare branches of trees, Fall's fallen crushed leaves,…
“Persephone is having sex in hell.” –“Persephone the Wanderer,” Louise Glück This isn’t hell, but…
“Again.” “Again.” “Again.” “Once more.” Her son slid down the wall onto the hallway floor.…
He told my Ma I was too young to know what a tumor felt like.…
“Don’t leave the backyard, Jodi!” “Okay, Mommy, I won’t!” That last conversation echoed in Sarah’s…
This website uses cookies.