Wednesday, April 05, 2023

NATIONAL PARK

by Jerome Berglund


Dogs roam the ghost town of Pripyat within the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine. Scientists have identified genetically distinct populations living in the area, including within the highly contaminated power plant. Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/Agence France-Presse—Getty Images via The New York Times, March 3, 2023


The Dogs of Chernobyl Are Experiencing Rapid Evolution, Study Suggests 
Popular Mechanics, April 1, 2023


near fifty odd past,
generations of curs
in the fallout

plume rose up
into the air
but has it dissipated 

toys left behind
during hasty retreat 
from exclusion zone

through ruins 
of the power plant
feral strays mutating

irradiated populations
not eradicated
over the dog years

unmolested 
other kingdoms
time to flourish

the casualties
by necessity
continue evolving 

beneficial adaptations
can they be reabsorbed
into populations

tempering
for weathering 
this boiling world

roaming the wastes
admiring 
the many sunflowers 


Jerome Berglund, recently nominated for the Touchstone awards and Pushcart Prize, has many haiku, senryu, and tanka exhibited and forthcoming online and in print, including in the Asahi Shimbun, Bottle Rockets, Frogpond, and Modern Haiku.  His first full-length collection of poetry Bathtub Poems was just released by Setu Press.