Mariana Poems: Visiting Rem(a)inders of War

The three poems, “Saipan,” “Tinian” and “Guam,” focus on the theme of anti-aesthetics and tropical tourism. Prior to World War II, the Northern Mariana Islands including Saipan and Tinian were occupied by Japan while the southernmost island in the chain, Guam, was controlled by the USA. There was fierce fighting between the two powers on these Pacific islands during the war. Significantly, the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshimi and Nagasaki, which ended the war, took off from Tinian. Promoted tourism today to the Marianas is primarily for the idealised tropical beach holiday, however, away from the coast, memorials to the horrors of the war on each of the islands can by visited by those willing to engage with often uneasy dark or anti-aesthetic tourism.