Tsunami

[the mingo]

Tsunami #1

water rising
people asleep go on sleeping
people awake
begin to run

#2
crying girl
with hands over mouth
I thought I was going to die
with hands over eyes
I thought I was going to die
with hands over face
I thought I was going to die
with head bowed toward the ground
in a fetal curve

#3
graves dug quickly in a row
for the ones that have been found
row after row
sobbing bent over women on the
edge of the opened earth

#4
cars floating
crashing into one another
crashing into bridges
into buildings
into ships
into hills

#5
men shouting
women groaning
at the water coming
and coming
and coming

#6
old woman with cane
in the water rushing by
her cane pointing toward the sky
nothing else to hold on to

#7
over here !
over here !
quickly quickly!
NO !
don't look back !

#8
houses floating down the streets
each one meaning family or friends or neighbors
flung into each other
flung against the mountains
broken into pieces
scattered

#9
a fire chief
looking for his 45 men
who rushed out to close
the sea doors by hand when
the power failed
he walks every day every way
his life a hell
of looking for them

#10
rescue workers wearing masks
over mouth & nose
some little relief
from the stench
of rotting stomachs
rotting eyes
rotting brains
rotting hearts

[saw]

unimaginable devastation and suffering ...the pictures are horrifying, but that's just one fingernail from a body of major destruction....the real stories continue to unfold with shocking consequences......good work....my heart goes out to Japan

[the mingo]

Thx saw. Seen too many pictures myself.

[joel]

too much rotting in this world
never enough senses and brains and hearts
too much water
and we need it all
until there's nothing left of us

[the mingo]

- thx for reading, joel & writing.

[Steve Plonk]

Gripping reading! Well done, Joel!