SNA (Tokyo) — Felipe Servulo, a well known author living in Catalonia, Spain, describes himself as ”a historian by profession, a poet when poetry wants to visit, and a writer who is always on the go for new stories.”

It was during his university years, while researching about the role of Japan in the last days of World War II, that he first came across the hibakusha, the survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the United States in 1945.

Servulo was well into his forties when he first became attracted to poetry. He encountered the works of Miguel Hernandez, a member of the influential Generation of ’27. This group of intellectuals and writers fought on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). It could be said that Servulo himself is a later offshoot of the movement in terms of his aesthetic sensibility and social concerns.

On his recent visit to Japan, I met up with Servulo at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo due to his keen interest in World War II. The shrine, established in 1869, memorializes the roughly 2.5 million Japanese who died in Japan’s wars or natural disasters since the late 19th century, including, controversially, some war criminals.

Servulo’s book, One Thousand Origami Cranes, pays homage to Sadako Suzuki, a Hiroshima girl who became a victim of the atomic bombing. Throughout its verses, the author also appears to talk with his Japanese grandson. This carefully crafted book creates a space where the poet and the girl appear to share images, emotions, and wishes.

Sadako, who was less than two kilometers away from the epicenter at the time of the atomic bombing, was diagnosed in 1955 with leukemia. Her friends told her about the legend of the thousand origami paper cranes which promise, upon completion of the task of folding them, that a wish will be granted. She took to the task diligently in a desperate effort to be granted her wish of continued life, but sadly she passed away at age twelve.

Her story became well known and a symbol of the importance of peace for many Japanese.

During our stroll through Yasukuni’s gardens, I asked Servulo how he managed to write about such a tragic subject in an affectionate and intimate manner.

“I initiated an imaginary dialogue with her. I couldn’t do it otherwise. Obviously, Sadako doesn’t reply, but I feel her presence and the emotions that she transmits to me.”

Servulo visited Hiroshima in order to place hundreds of origami paper cranes made by Spanish children in front of the statue of Sadako, marking today’s increasing need for peace.

The poet believes that when this small action is repeated over and over and given enough exposure, the power of altruism will prevail.

“The spirit of Sadako oversees her martyred city from the sky where thousands of origami cranes utter a single plea for Peace. A cry that forbids bombers like the infamous Enola Gay from ever deploying an atomic bomb again,” wrote Servulo in Plutonium Clusters, his newest book.

Pika-don! Pika-don!
The marching children shouted
Unable to fulfill the mandate to grow up
They left their names
Where the geometry of pain is woven
I have seen them, from where I write to you.

(Poem translated from Felipe Servulo’s Plutonium Clusters)

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