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tsunami vs. the fukushima 50: poems
Named a Best Book of 2019 by the New York Public Library
In March 2011, a tsunami caused by an earthquake collided with nearby power plant Fukushima Daiichi, causing the only nuclear disaster in history to rival Chernobyl in scope. Those who stayed at the plant to stabilize the reactors, willing to sacrifice their lives, became known internationally as the Fukushima 50.
In tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh takes a piercing, witty, and ferocious look into the heart of the disaster. Here we meet its survivors and victims, from a pearl-catcher to a mild-mannered father to a drove of mindless pink robots. And then there is Roripaugh's unforgettable Tsunami: a force of nature, femme fatale, and "annihilatrix." Tsunami is part hero and part supervillain--angry, loud, forcefully defending her rights as a living being in contemporary industrialized society. As humanity rebuilds in disaster's wake, Tsunami continues to wreak her own havoc, battling humans' self-appointed role as colonizer of Earth and its life-forms.
"She's an unsubtle thief / a giver of gifts," Roripaugh writes of Tsunami, who spits garbage from the Pacific back into now-pulverized Fukushima. As Tsunami makes visible her suffering, the wrath of nature scorned, humanity has the opportunity to reconsider the trauma they cause Earth and each other. But will they look?
In March 2011, a tsunami caused by an earthquake collided with nearby power plant Fukushima Daiichi, causing the only nuclear disaster in history to rival Chernobyl in scope. Those who stayed at the plant to stabilize the reactors, willing to sacrifice their lives, became known internationally as the Fukushima 50.
In tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh takes a piercing, witty, and ferocious look into the heart of the disaster. Here we meet its survivors and victims, from a pearl-catcher to a mild-mannered father to a drove of mindless pink robots. And then there is Roripaugh's unforgettable Tsunami: a force of nature, femme fatale, and "annihilatrix." Tsunami is part hero and part supervillain--angry, loud, forcefully defending her rights as a living being in contemporary industrialized society. As humanity rebuilds in disaster's wake, Tsunami continues to wreak her own havoc, battling humans' self-appointed role as colonizer of Earth and its life-forms.
"She's an unsubtle thief / a giver of gifts," Roripaugh writes of Tsunami, who spits garbage from the Pacific back into now-pulverized Fukushima. As Tsunami makes visible her suffering, the wrath of nature scorned, humanity has the opportunity to reconsider the trauma they cause Earth and each other. But will they look?
120 pages, Paperback
First published March 12, 2019
12 people are currently reading
250 people want to read
About the author
Lee Ann Roripaugh
15 books91 followersLee Ann Roripaugh is the author of four volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, Dandarians, was released by Milkweed Editions in September 2014. Her second volume, Year of the Snake (Southern Illinois University Press), was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and her first book, Beyond Heart Mountain (Penguin Books), was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series. The recipient of a 2003 Archibald Bush Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship, she was also named the 2004 winner of the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award, the 2001 winner of the Frederick Manfred Award for Best Creative Writing awarded by the Western Literature Association, and the 1995 winner of the Randall Jarrell International Poetry Prize.
Her short stories have been shortlisted as stories of note in the Pushcart Prize anthologies, and two of her essays have been shortlisted as essays of note for the Best American Essays anthology. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Roripaugh is currently a Professor of English at the University of South Dakota, where she serves as Director of Creative Writing and Editor-in-Chief of South Dakota Review. She is also a faculty mentor for the University of Nebraska low-residency M.F.A. in Writing, and served as a 2012 Kundiman faculty mentor alongside Li-Young Lee and Srikanth Reddy.
Her short stories have been shortlisted as stories of note in the Pushcart Prize anthologies, and two of her essays have been shortlisted as essays of note for the Best American Essays anthology. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Roripaugh is currently a Professor of English at the University of South Dakota, where she serves as Director of Creative Writing and Editor-in-Chief of South Dakota Review. She is also a faculty mentor for the University of Nebraska low-residency M.F.A. in Writing, and served as a 2012 Kundiman faculty mentor alongside Li-Young Lee and Srikanth Reddy.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 8, 2019
Any review I write will fail to do this very, very fine book of poems justice. I'm just bowled over. Roripaugh has long been a poet of great lyric power. There are poems in early work, such as BEYOND HEART MOUNTAIN and YEAR OF THE SNAKE that still take my breath away. But this book is the creation of a questing artist at the height of her powers. The topic is ambitious, to say the least. How do we write about enormous human tragedy, especially if we (humans) are complicit in elements of that tragedy? Roripaugh's answer is a book that is musical and mournful, angry and inventive, wry and (yes) playful all at once. The themes here are serious, and Roripaugh's rigorous intelligence interrogates them with bright intelligence. Yet the element that overwhelmed me as I read, and reread, was beauty. The language is mesmerizing and precise. It sang and sang to me...just as the sea does, even when she is raging.
June 30, 2019
Simultaneously gorgeous and chilling.
Prior to researching this collection (before reading), embarrassingly I knew nothing of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I could never have predicted what a full experience of knowledge of that event I might absorb simply by reading these poems. Not only is the choice of the multi-prism perspective a masterful one, the realization of that promise through shifting diction and imagery while maintaining accessibility is nothing short of remarkable. The creative tapestry of words alone is near equal to a documentary and surely superior to any feature adaptation.
maybe she was sleeping:
a dream of fishes helixed
in spiraling schools
anemone's veronicas
ouroboros of sea snakes
the chambered nautilus's
slow-whorled tornadoes...
Prior to researching this collection (before reading), embarrassingly I knew nothing of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. I could never have predicted what a full experience of knowledge of that event I might absorb simply by reading these poems. Not only is the choice of the multi-prism perspective a masterful one, the realization of that promise through shifting diction and imagery while maintaining accessibility is nothing short of remarkable. The creative tapestry of words alone is near equal to a documentary and surely superior to any feature adaptation.
maybe she was sleeping:
a dream of fishes helixed
in spiraling schools
anemone's veronicas
ouroboros of sea snakes
the chambered nautilus's
slow-whorled tornadoes...
December 27, 2019
Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50: Poems by Lee Ann Roripaugh is one of two books of poetry I randomly took off the shelf in November. As it turns out, both books centered the majority of their poems around a common theme, something I tend to not really enjoy. In the case of this book, however, I was pleasantly surprised.
The theme here is the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant and I found many poignant poems in this volume that reminded me of Lucy Birmingham's history and narrative of the 2011 event, Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, another book that I strongly recommend.
Roripaugh explores the disaster from many perspectives, often comparing the tsunami to an animal or personifying the tsunami. Below are some lines from the first poem in the book.
Ontology of a tsunami
awoken venom
cobra come uncharmed
glittering rush
of fanged lightning
that strikes
and strikes again
tsunami has no name
call her scalded splash
of tea jarred from
a broken cup's cracked glaze...
In a poem called Radioactive Man a middle aged man takes care of his elderly parents by moving them out of the prefecture when the reactor melts down but goes back and stays at his home to rescue and take care of animals left behind and the family home. He is not welcome outside of his home area and regularly shunned, thought reporters come to interview him occasionally. In the final stanzas of the poem he compares himself to Dr. Manhattan:
"...in the American Watchmen comics,
Dr. Manhattan was once tricked
into believing he'd given everyone
he ever loved cancer, through
exposure to his radioactive body
just the thought of this undid him,
made him feel so solitary and blue
he left the earth behind for eons,
to brood in exile on the moon."
Certainly he is referring as much to himself as he is to Dr. Manhattan.
Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. A fine little book of poetry with many heartbreaking and well written poems that only touch the surface of this disaster.
The theme here is the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and subsequent meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant and I found many poignant poems in this volume that reminded me of Lucy Birmingham's history and narrative of the 2011 event, Strong in the Rain: Surviving Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, another book that I strongly recommend.
Roripaugh explores the disaster from many perspectives, often comparing the tsunami to an animal or personifying the tsunami. Below are some lines from the first poem in the book.
Ontology of a tsunami
awoken venom
cobra come uncharmed
glittering rush
of fanged lightning
that strikes
and strikes again
tsunami has no name
call her scalded splash
of tea jarred from
a broken cup's cracked glaze...
In a poem called Radioactive Man a middle aged man takes care of his elderly parents by moving them out of the prefecture when the reactor melts down but goes back and stays at his home to rescue and take care of animals left behind and the family home. He is not welcome outside of his home area and regularly shunned, thought reporters come to interview him occasionally. In the final stanzas of the poem he compares himself to Dr. Manhattan:
"...in the American Watchmen comics,
Dr. Manhattan was once tricked
into believing he'd given everyone
he ever loved cancer, through
exposure to his radioactive body
just the thought of this undid him,
made him feel so solitary and blue
he left the earth behind for eons,
to brood in exile on the moon."
Certainly he is referring as much to himself as he is to Dr. Manhattan.
Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. A fine little book of poetry with many heartbreaking and well written poems that only touch the surface of this disaster.
January 4, 2020
It feels like I've been punched in the gut. This collection peers into the lives and minds of those affected by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, which led to the (preventable) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011. These stories, imagined or not, remain relevant in today's climate and political landscape. I'm old enough to clearly remember when these events happened. I was about to graduate from high school, and I remember that not a lot of the adults around me cared. But they should have. Just as we should all care about what's happening today.
March 5, 2020
So inventive, so deep-hearted. Did not expect the turn these pieces took at the end but it only made the whole experience deeper. And these poems then give new depth to the characters/stories it builds on, as if to say, but yes, of course, these held that meaning all along. Simply stunning.
August 5, 2019
What a unique, important voice here. Through persona poems and deeply reflective anthems, Roripaugh's poems humanize the toll of this natural disaster.
Some of my favorite moments:
what happens when she wakens
from this clam before the thorn?
her nervous system a glitter
of neurotransmitters on fire
a cracked moon smithereened
on the porch room floor
Some of my favorite moments:
what happens when she wakens
from this clam before the thorn?
her nervous system a glitter
of neurotransmitters on fire
a cracked moon smithereened
on the porch room floor
February 8, 2021
It's so exciting to read a book of poems and think, "This! This is what I want to achieve as a poet!" Anyway, this book gave me the idea of what I think I want to do for my thesis, and that's also extremely exciting.
August 23, 2020
I don’t even remember what algorithm led me to Lee Ann Roripaugh’s Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50, but I’m grateful to it. Who can resist an epigram from Godzilla?
Inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and ensuing Fukushima nuclear disaster, Roripaugh’s poems give voice to the forces of nature (primarily the tsunami) and to its (or, as imagined, her) various victims and ghosts.
I loved Roripaugh’s combination of imagery- images from the natural world exist beside human/pop culture/tech ones and inform each other in surprising and incisive ways. This helped me wrap my head around so much that I didn’t know about, but I still had to make frequent use of Google as I read through the collection.
Standout poems were:
“radioactive man”
“miki endo as flint marko (aka sandman)”
“hulk smash”
“white tsubame”
“ghosts of the tohoku coast”
Though it’s not exactly an accessible collection, I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in eco/docu poetry.
Inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, tsunami, and ensuing Fukushima nuclear disaster, Roripaugh’s poems give voice to the forces of nature (primarily the tsunami) and to its (or, as imagined, her) various victims and ghosts.
I loved Roripaugh’s combination of imagery- images from the natural world exist beside human/pop culture/tech ones and inform each other in surprising and incisive ways. This helped me wrap my head around so much that I didn’t know about, but I still had to make frequent use of Google as I read through the collection.
Standout poems were:
“radioactive man”
“miki endo as flint marko (aka sandman)”
“hulk smash”
“white tsubame”
“ghosts of the tohoku coast”
Though it’s not exactly an accessible collection, I definitely recommend it for anyone interested in eco/docu poetry.
July 5, 2022
Tsunami vs the Fukushima 50 is a brilliant poetry cycle concerning the 2011 tsunami and earthquake that devastated the Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan area and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power facility. Fukushima was something happening on TV but something I didn't really grasp. This poetry collection helped me better understand the tragedy and have more empathy for the survivors.
Some of my favorite poems were the following:
"Animal portents foretell the rise of tsunami" because it reminds us that animals will know before humans when disaster strikes.
"White Tsubame" is a superhero origin story and one that I want to see play out in a movie.
"Ama, the woman of the sea" is a whole contained story that could be adapted for the screen.
"Hisako's Testimony (as X-Men's Armor)" is a heartbreaking story of sexual assault.
Some of my favorite poems were the following:
"Animal portents foretell the rise of tsunami" because it reminds us that animals will know before humans when disaster strikes.
"White Tsubame" is a superhero origin story and one that I want to see play out in a movie.
"Ama, the woman of the sea" is a whole contained story that could be adapted for the screen.
"Hisako's Testimony (as X-Men's Armor)" is a heartbreaking story of sexual assault.
April 26, 2020
Roripaugh is the first poet whose work I ever loved, but Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50 does not match her earlier collections’ quality. A few poems stand up, particularly the narrative ones like “hulk smash” (wonderful!)—and as always, Roripaugh’s sense of musicality is top-notch. The collection is much more energetic and experimental than Roripaugh’s previous work. Overall, though, Tsunami reads a lot like Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler with some pop-references thrown in, à la Ashbery. A bit unsurprising, but I’m curious about what Roripaugh will write next.
August 5, 2021
From the deceptively prosaic-yet-emotive dialogue of Fukushima survivors, to the utterly sublime, irreverent, often anthropomorphised tsunami flooding the pages of this bittersweet (and occasionally sharply hilarious) collection, the reader’s journey tumbles through language in awe at nature’s devastatingly wild and untameable expression, into the very human fragilities of hubris, stoicism and grief.
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October 7, 2019Read Harder 2019: A collection of poetry published since 2014
I didn't intend to read this directly on the heels of Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell, but that's how it worked out. It was a timely reminder that "nonfiction" is not the only narrative for teaching history. I loved these poems and will be haunted by many of them.
I didn't intend to read this directly on the heels of Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell, but that's how it worked out. It was a timely reminder that "nonfiction" is not the only narrative for teaching history. I loved these poems and will be haunted by many of them.
February 11, 2020
Last night I had the opportunity to listed to Dr. Roripaugh read some poems from this collection, and they were remarkable. Now, after finishing the collection in its entirety, I can assure you that it is stunning. Roripaugh's ability to manipulate language to create haunting, beautiful images feels completely new and unlike anything I've read so far. I highly recommend this collection.
April 16, 2019
There are so many delightful surprises in the images and language of these poems. Beautiful and slippery, but also with the immense gravity of the two disasters. The results are powerful and complex, thrilling all the way through.
July 17, 2019
2 poems...and some lines with in poems were worth my time.
July 19, 2019
A sci-fi odyssey of mourning.
July 24, 2019
Roripaugh's Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50 is a swirling fever-dream where nature, humanity, and the spiritual collide, creating an unstoppable force.
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September 6, 2019811.54 R787t 2019
November 18, 2019
Very interesting and some very moving.
May 31, 2020
Imaginative poetry with incredible language/style. I'm always a fan of using a sci-fi premise (in this case, superheroes and kaiju) to explore real systems or traumas.
August 20, 2020
200820: quarantine buddy read #16 with Keagan!
February 28, 2021
This was the most surprising book of poetry I've read in a long time.
May 19, 2021
Some of these poems were really doing it for me and some felt like they were stretching their own concept/conceit too thin.
3.5/5
3.5/5
August 24, 2023
Five stars doesn't do this one justice.
Five stars only because there's not more stars.
Five stars only because there's not more stars.
November 23, 2025
These poems are unsettling in the most empathetic way. My favorites are "hulk smash" and "anonymous, as invisible man"
May 1, 2024
Tsunami vs Fukushima 50 is not a poetry collection about tragedy, it is a collection about the people this tragedy happened to. It opens with the act of waking up in the first line “awoken venom // cobra come uncharmed” and concludes with a hermit crab poem redefining the vocabulary of a tsunami. This book takes the reader on a journey through Japan, interspacing journalistic poetry recounting real people's experiences with the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster told in first person, with third person personification poems depicting a tsunami as a woman. This is a poetry collection about sleep, marine life, snakes, radiation, pop culture, robots, superheroes, moles, and the destruction of families.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews