“An imagined world where life and myth condense to form
a disconcerting picture of the human predicament.”¹
The City of Beasts,
leveled in ’54
when it earned its nickname,
as Gojira flattened the buildings,
smashed the tanks.
With the fear of the Atomic Age
at the fore,
Kenzaburō Ōe was starting
his career.
Writing and hoping
the generations to come
would bring peace.
A radiation-free horizon
for his strange work.
Nine years of strife and reflection,
he saw the birth of his son.
Someone else’s feet
to wander the land of
the rising sun.
With ascending arpeggios
of flute and piano,
the son of Kenzaburō staggers
beyond the treble clef
and beyond tomorrow’s sorrow.
Unspeaking,
he has taught us to outgrow
our madness
and listen to the songs of birds.
Those ascending arpeggios
teach us to see with our ears
and feel with our hearts.
Gojira cannot squash these dreams.
Gojira will see with his ears
and feel with his heart.
Ōe, Kenzaburō. From Nobel Acceptance Speech.1994.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andre F. Peltier is a Lecturer III at Eastern Michigan University where he has taught African American Literature, Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, Poetry, and Freshman Composition since 1998. He lives in Ypsilanti, MI, with his wife, children, turtles, dog, and cat. His poetry has appeared in Big Whoopie Deal, In Parentheses, Griffel Magazine, Fahmidan Journal, The Write Launch, and Tofu Ink and is forthcoming in The Great Lakes Review, La Piccioletta Barca, Prospectus, Sledgehammer, Melbourne Culture Corner, The JFA Human Rights Journal, Spillover Mag, and an anthology from Quillkeepers Press. In his free time, he obsesses about soccer and comic books.