"Memorial Project Minamata" Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
C.J. Sage
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
Like stones the dolphin lay
along the rocky shoreline,
dying out like embers,gray backs into the sand,
white bellies crushed, like wine
grapes, beneath a fisher's footas if he hated them, as if
they were trespassers. He'd grind
them with his heavy heel.Oh the way the animals sang
out beneath the briny
boot, the way their bodies bucked.Of tragedy what is the meaning?
I took it as a living sign,
that bloody waterscape.Blessèd be the mammals
who curve like splines
above the schools of fish.Blessèd be the fish
for they are meek and tiny
toothed. Blessèd be the sea,it bears much without judgment.
And then the men would find
their way—the one manwith the rest—back home,
and on the catch they'd dine
by candlelight with wives & children.Lean down your ear
upon the earth, and listen. How fine
the words of Wolfe,I take them as my own,
like bounties of the tide, mine
to waste or cultivate.Love, we say, and God. Yes,
the glories of this world do shine
for you—and I. We’re always home.
Bio:
C. J. Sage is the editor of The National Poetry Review and teaches at Hartnell College. C. J.'s poems have appeared most recently and are forthcoming in Shenandoah, The Antioch Review, Black Warrior Review, Verse Daily, The Threepenny Review, 32 Poems, and The American Poetry Journal, and numerous other national and international magazines and anthologies. She is also the editor of AND WE THE CREATURES and author of LET'S NOT SLEEP.
