Some CNMI Poetic Perspectives: 30 for April 30th

To end National Poetry Month here are 30 senryu for the 30th of April. 
Thursday, April 30, 2015 there will be a public meeting for the “CNMI Joint Military Training Draft Environmental Impact Statement/ Overseas Environmental Impact Statement” at the Tinian Jr. Sr. High School cafeteria from 5pm to 8pm. With a title like that, is it any wonder the (EIS) Overseas (OEIS) statement is over 1,000 pages long? The military has provided copies to be read online, which include a 40-page executive summary. I used the summary as a basis for my short poems (containing opinions) found below. I have put certain terms in CAPITAL LETTERS to emphasize the terms as they are found in the impact statement itself. Senryu are haiku about people.

S. T. O. P. – S.enryu T.inian O.peration P.oetry
T.H.I.N.K. – T.inian H.as I.nformative N.ew K.nowledge
 
bombs above Pagan
guns in Tinian below
who gets hurt we don’t know
 
EIS /OEIS impact statement
one thousand pages long
got anything wrong?
 
Unai Chulu ramp
bringing in the heavy stuff
when will enough be enough?
 
take a look sixty days
EIS thicker than NYC phone book
left me in a daze
 
listen to the request
take time to learn what’s between us
from GOVERNOR INOS
 
taotao Marianas
read the executive summary
get info on modern gunnery
 
Pagan inert bombs
Tinian live ammunition
learn the definition
 
soldiers at Tinian stationed
NINETY FIVE for the duration
help for science education?
 
IBB radio station
move it or not
topic is hot
 
about the radio station
conflicting situation
strategic complication
 
win win military and Tinian
air thoughts for clearing
outcome of hearings
 
live munitions dump
just before the runway begins
only explosion wins
 
talk about road side device
live ammo before landing
military needs to think twice
 
Unai Chulu
ramp on ancient village site
doesn’t seem right
 
about Invasion Beach
exercise your freedom of speech
practice what you preach
 
“as we now live” is the
NO ACTION ALTERNATIVE
no one to forgive
 
Tinian right now
four live fire ranges
why make changes?
 
military water use
millions of gallons
any left for STALLIONS?

RANGE OPERATIONS
lose the radio station
possible situation

 AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT VEHICLE
landing at Chulu Beach
will tourists ever reach

four miles off the coast
ALT. SURFACE DANGER ZONE
fishermen must leave alone

MUNITIONS STORAGE AREA
in direct flight path
who did the math?
 
hearing today
in high school cafeteria
hear the criteria

eight to ten years
announced for construction
how much destruction?

will our cows
be in danger
as they browse?

planes in the air
use  more gas to divert
new route and price unfair ?

US military did their work
we can’t forget KIM
the North Korean jerk

Stalinist dictator
Kim the Young Un
completely crazy one

he starves the poor
more statues of him in store
we’ve seen it before

Kim in power by birth
rules one of poorest countries
on earth without any mirth

(To read the EIS statement go to: www.CNMIJointMilitaryTrainingEIS.com.)

Joey ‘Pepe Batbon’ Connolly
Special to the Saipan Tribune

Joey “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired teacher and poet living on Tinian who taught English in CNMI public schools for the past 30 years. He has also taught in Alaska, New Orleans, and Las Vegas.