Atomic Over Education
David Sj Kim, UW Bothell
It had been 46 long years
But I have finally returned to my roots through fate.
The husk that I once called my school appears-
A single breath escapes.
Once a student, now a volunteer
No more textbooks, only a rake.
No longer a place to learn, but a final frontier
But I continue forward, one final lesson to take.
Hanford High School - Image Courtesy: Manhattan Project National Historical Park
Contamination Haiku
Rebecca Jacobson, UW Bothell
Contamination
Radiates through the river
Begging to be cleaned
Leah Sue Aleck
Author of: Hanford: Our Threatened Heritage: How Clean is Clean enough?
Heritage University
Stephanie Guillen-Romero
Madre de mi vida
Stephanie Guillen-Romero, UW Bothell
Quítalo todo,
El cielo, la tierra y los océanos,
El veneno cae lentamente
Y tú lo tomas todo sin quejar,
Quítalo todo,
El sol, la luna y las estrellas,
La guerra contra el tiempo nos acaban a los dos
Pero tu morirás como la madre que nos dio todo
Y nosotros como los hijos que te quitamos todo incluido nuestras dos vidas.
O’ salvación,
La mano que nos da de comer
Es la mano que mordemos.
Las raíces envenenadas nos llevarán,
Y nuestro odio consumirá cada sacrificio que hayas hecho por nosotros.
Quítalo todo,
Ahora que podemos hacer algo
Y pedir tu misericordia
Por el odio que nosotros te hemos llenado.
Mother of my Life
Stephanie Guillen-Romero, UW Bothell
Take it all away,
The sky, the earth, and the oceans,
The poison falls slowly
And you take it all in without a single complaint.
Take it all away,
The sun, the moon, and the stars,
The war against time is taking a toll on both of us
But you will die as the mother that gave us everything
And we as the kids that took away everything including both our lives.
O’ salvation
The hand that feeds us
Is the hand we bite.
The poisoned roots will take us
And our hate will consume every sacrifice you have made for us.
Take it all away,
Do it now that we can make some change,
And ask you to be merciful
For all the hate we have consumed you with.
Shrubsteppe Resurgence
Iliza Aflleje, UW Bothell
In spite of nuclear warfare,
In the face of aggression and hunger for power,
Sometimes when the dust settles,
A silver lining is presented.
Re-introducing the shrubsteppe –
Arid, unassuming, splendid.
Sagebrush, bluebunch, bitterbrush,
Burrowing owls, sagebrush sparrows, greater sage-grouses.
Such a diverse ecosystem
Living within a “landscape of irony”.
Thriving without human intervention
And in the face of radioactivity.
Thank you, Rena Priest, for being our contest judge!
Rena Priest is a member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) Nation. Rena’s work draws on history, scientific ephemera, and pop culture to tell stories and seek truths.
Rena Priest is the 2021-2023 Washington State Poet Laureate and Maxine Cushing Gray Distinguished Writing Fellow. Her two primary goals during her term as Poet Laureate included celebrating poetry in Washington’s tribal communities and using poetry to increase appreciation of the natural world and the threats facing it.
Priest is also the recipient of an Allied Arts Foundation Professional Poets Award and fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, Indigenous Nations Poets, and the Vadon Foundation.
Her debut collection, Patriarchy Blues, received an American Book Award. Her second collection, Sublime Subliminal, was published as the finalist for the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her most recent book, Northwest Know-How: Beaches, includes poems, retellings of legends, and fun descriptions of 29 of the most beloved beaches in Washington and Oregon. Priest’s nonfiction has appeared in High Country News, YES! Magazine, Seattle Met, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College.
Get inspired to write by checking out Rena Priest’s published books and recently published poems posted on poetryfoundation.org and poets.org.
Rena wanted to share the following advice for anyone writing for this contest:
“Stand in your truth and speak authentically, and you can't miss. Even if your poem is not selected, you'll be satisfied that you created something meaningful.”
And if you’re looking for additional inspiration, check out some of Rena’s favorite poets: Natalie Diaz, Heid E. Erdrich, Linda Hogan, Mary Oliver, Leslie Marmon Silko, Frank O'Hara.
Click here for the script of the Hot Poetry Presentation. You can also find other Nuclear Waste Scholar Series talks here.
This material is funded through a Public Participation Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology. The content was reviewed for grant consistency, but is not necessarily endorsed by the agency.