‘Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands’ Anthology Release Party and Reading

“Nuclear Impact,” an anthology on the impact of nuclear technology on human life will be released on March 4. – Courtesy photo

The Allendale Branch Library hosts the anthology release party and reading for “Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands,” edited by Pasadena-based poet, Teresa Mei Chuc, and published by Shabda Press, on Saturday, March 4, at 2 p.m., at 1130 S. Marengo Ave., Pasadena.  In addition to Teresa Mei Chuc, readers to be featured include Khadija Anderson, Heather Bourbeau, Don Kingfisher Campbell, Doren Damico, Michael C. Ford, Richard Jarrette, Mariko Kitakubo, Deborah P. Kolodji, Shahe Mankerian, Paul Lobo Portuges, William Pitt Root, Marc Swan, Pam Uschuk, Yun Wang, and Kathabela Wilson. Copies of the anthology, which is 576 pages, will be available for $25.00. Light refreshments will be served.

The editor, Teresa Mei Chuc, will be in attendance. – Courtesy photo

“Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands” is the symphonic voices of 163 poets from around the United States and the world, from places such as India, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, the Philippines, Japan, South Africa, Guam, Singapore, Poland, Australia, France, Vietnam, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Germany, China, and Pakistan, examining the impact of nuclear power and warfare on human life and the planet.  The poems in the anthology take us through Navajo-Hopi reservations, the Nevada desert, Los Alamos, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Three Mile Island, Trinity, air raid drills, Chernobyl, Pripyat, Ogoturuk Valley, Fukushima, nuclear testing in India and Pakistan, and more.

In the introduction to the anthology is Pablo Neruda’s poem, “Ode to the Atom,” which begins, “Infinitesimal/star within/uranium,/you appeared/to be interred/forever: concealed,/your diabolical/fire./Then one day/loud knocking/at the tiny/door:/it was man.” The poems in “Nuclear Impact: Broken Atoms in Our Hands” travel the depths of the human soul, hand in hand, reminding us of what we have released in the atom and our responsibility to all life on Mother Earth.

For further information, contact the Allendale Branch Library by phone at (626) 744-7260 or visit pasadenapubliclibrary.net.  You can also view posts related to this event on the Allendale Branch Library Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/allendalebranch/?fref=ts.

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