Today, August 6, is Hiroshima day, and my thoughts go back to Oak Ridge Tennessee. More than thirty years ago I spent a few month in this small city close to Knoxville. I rented a room in a barack built with haste during the war as part of the Manhattan Project. I still recall the Old Man I met by the mailboxes asking if I worked at Y-12 and his disappointment when I said I spent my days at the research facility. “Oh, you’re one of those X-10 scientists… It was our men who made the bomb…”
That’s when I understood: this is where Little Boy was born. From these quiet wooded areas came the bomb that ended the war by ending all those lives in Hiroshima. In my mind I often wander the oak woods, dead leaves under my feet, thinking when it will happen next…
origami cranes
in every folded paper
Hiroshima
Mock up of “Little Boy” the bomb that was dropped over Hiroshima
Today we have a guest host for Haibun Monday at dVerse. Frank Tassone reminds us that today is Hiroshima day. I have never visited Hiroshima, but there is a strong connection between the bomb and Oak Ridge Tennessee.
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August 6, 2018
Björn Rudbergs writings 
What a frightful coincidence this is. I recall reading what those pilots and soldiers felt when they had to do this mission – it seared their souls forever. Love the imagery of those origami cranes and the photo of that “Little boy”.
The origami cranes is also a reference to the life and death of Sadako Sasaki…. the legend of 1000 paper cranes.
Hate to think of the nightmares that President Truman must have had, after viewing the aftermath of “little boy”. Did dropping the bomb saved soldier lives and time fighting? We’ll never know, for sure.
I think you have to believe that it saved lives… the alternative is too terrible to ponder I think.
It’s so eerie how a locale of such rustic beauty can be the place where the Manhattan Project team utter devastation! I’m haunted by the pride of that old man in Little Boy’s manufacture. And I love how your haiku so iconically complements your prose! Thank you, Bjorn!
It was eerie in so many ways… a very special place
I can imagine!
I have been there several times, once visiting with engineers to gain more knowledge of nuclear engineering and the birth of Little Boy. the last time I went the daffodils were in bloom, growing wild in the trees. They made me think of the 1000 cranes. A beautiful work Bjorn.
I love the thought of 100 cranes in Oak Ridge…
That is just about the best haiku I’ve ever read. Love the segue leading up to it.
Thank you.. some things remains in my mind… have you ever read the story of the little girl and the 1000 cranes?
Should I? Is it good?
It is very very sad… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes
I don’t like to be sad.
thank you!
How strange to come upon such a piece of world history. I love your haiku, and the reminder of the 1000 cranes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes
there’s a link for anyone who would like to be reminded. Maybe we should each write our haiku on a piece of paper, fold it into a crane and set it free somewhere…
What a marvelous idea… I folded myself a paper crane after writing this…
Your personal reflections add significance to the day and to our poetics; you were allowed to participate a bit and revisit the birth of the atomic age. You haiku was stand alone strong.
Thank you… it felt a bit strange to actually be part of it sleeping in that dorm…
What a strange and terrible place to work. I can understand your silent walks in the woods,
“When it will happen next…” so chilling. What an experience.
How sombering this post. I don’t know if I could walk those woods.
Really interesting angle on this. Thanks for the cool haiku and the info on Sadako Sasaki.
The last few lines are haunting. The silent witness to one deadly creation. And the next one. I wonder.
For some reason I had goosebumps reading this, Bjorn.
This is quite amazing that you were in this place and had that experience. While it is said that dropping the atomic bomb ended the war, it opened an entirely new horror in terms of the capabilities of war. I love your haiku with the origami paper crane.
Oh, those cranes break my heart. In every folded paper, we are perhaps carrying their very ghosts. Such is the nature of any kind of encounter or acknowledgment of a frightful time.
Interesting, how you stayed in that location. And the haiku is beyond powerful.
-HA
What an experience to have had. I appreciate how your haibun joins the worlds of the bomb makers and the victims…the paper crane reference makes your haiku powerful (especially after refreshing my awareness of Sadako the Japanese child who died of leukaemia 10 years after the blast.)
Lovely haiku, Bjorn. I wonder if it did end the war. According to some it needed a second bomb to do that.
I wonder if it was the second bomb… of course afterwards you have to say so.
Exactly. That way a bad conscience lies.
What a strange coincidence. Your haiku fit your prose perfectly.
Those peaceful woods were camouflage. Interesting story, Bjorn, and I like how you included the origami cranes.
kaykuala
I often wander the oak woods,
dead leaves under my feet,
thinking when it will happen next
It gets all the more frightening with the underlying trade war building up to a crescendo!
Hank