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When the H-bomb didn’t explode and - blow us all to smithereens You thought we would skip home to our mommies - and forget And when the Russians didn’t appear on our - doorsteps to reduce our brains to pulp You thought we would go happily back to our - tinker toys The Red Chinese never spread the yellow - peril as so often predicted And you tell us to forget So we hug the Russians and meet - the Chinese gaily over ping-pong We housebroke nuclear power And buy goods made by our - once deadly enemies We are to forget So I go out and buy my two year old - a plastic submachine gun - and forget |
Does this poem make any sense to those of you that are younger?
Sorry, you cannot respond to an archived poemReviews
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Wonderful
I'm 20 and still this makes a clear and poignant point to me in a powerful way. So often we forget our past and are destined to repeat it again. I'm unsure about the layout of the poem, why the dashes? Are they really necessary? If so please explain - I think it's just me being blind as to their relevance. Apart from that, brilliant poem! It makes sense to me but perhaps to younger readers it might not.
Silver Spirit x. Rewarded 4
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Thank you.
I am very grateful for your comments, thank you. The Hyphens - I write a very long line in free verse form. I want the line, for rhythms sake, left as I wrote it. This site often removes the indentations and an uncapitalized word is push to the beginning of the line. My hyphens prevent that from occurring. I'm sorry I dislike the look of it too. I will go and have a look at the change in your poem. I trust your taste and good sense about your own work.
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Moving, thought provoking
I'm 28 and although I don't remember the events described, I do feel the strongly the sense the poem gives of it being assumed that as a child you hold on to or let go of information, fears and memories as is convenient for adults around you. I like the repetition of the mentions of the Chinese and Russians in the second stanza, as it reinforces the idea that the writer still holds childhood fears in their mind even during fairly mundane daily present day events (shopping etc.) Also the mention of the writers child and modern toys gives a sense of generations passing. I really liked this, thanks for sharing it. One thing - was slightly confused by the punctuation (the hyphens/dashes at line starts)..
Cate. Rewarded 4
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Thank you
I am very grateful for your comments, thank you. The Hyphens - I write a very long line in free verse form. I want the line, for rhythms sake, left as I wrote it. This site often removes the indentations and an uncapitalized word is push to the beginning of the line. My hyphens prevent that from occurring. I'm sorry I dislike the look of it too.
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As said by cate ... a very thought provoking piece .
I believe u are from that era , u know the "red" fear !!!
Anyways ... i believe this piece in its own right is unique ... and is so powerful in expressing ur ideas , that once read that idea , just goes into ur mind ... like BAAM !!!
seriously this is really a remarkably terrific piece . keep writing .
~~~Abhi~~~
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nice .....
i liked the idea behind the poem.it is really good, though i don't belong to the cold war era ,i can feel the truma, the fear....it should have been enough to say no more to war(even a cold one).but again a common human nature;repeating the history again and again.
well, you have to meet russians...chinese ...it is a global village now...the GLOBAL economy...and you have to forget the past!we all have some bitter memories of past.
for americans it may be communists....for vietnam and cuba it is america...(you can add two three more names)
i don't know what people of former USSR allience have to say in this regard.
but honestly i liked the poem. ending is magnificent.
this poem does make sense to me and i can say with a great impact.
keep delighting us
jo
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And older too
I was a student during WW2, and remember when the Germans did horrid things. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrid too, and dozens more... But that was 1939-44. Sixty four years later, age has buried the ones who killed, indeed most grandfathers of today's youth were not even involved in that war, and yet because old war movies are shown on TV there is a sense of shame for young ones. Sort of proves the "sins of the fathers, unto the third and fourth generation." I say this because it still hurts young friends whose names become labels. And then I think of today's shame, the inhumanity, the wanton bombings, the torture, and see that we never learn.
Terry. Rewarded 4
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WOW...This poem was both bold and out there. My favorite line would be "We housebroke nuclear power".. That was so amazingly written... I also liked "So I go out and buy my two year old a plastic submachine gun and forget". I love how you wrote this poem and really shoved the facts into the readers thought! you wrote everything in just the right words and really showed both sides... what a good write! nice to here about something besides love, and suicide! thanks for the refreshment!
~NATASHA~. Rewarded 4
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A very very nice write indeed and Well executed.
Your descriptions are vivid and show great imagery.
Keep up the good work.
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I like this very much, it provokes thoughts and challenges expectations. I think the best we can hope of any political poem is that it makes us question our own assumptions about the world and that is what this does.
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Makes sense at 29...
I am 29 and the poem makes sense to me. Much of this I only know from my studies in U.S. History or interviews I have done, but I can still feel the sincerity of this poem and I still find it thought provoking. It is a topic we don't see all too often and I was eager to read it as soon as I saw the title. Of course, I have always been a history buff, so I was an easy sell!. Rewarded 4
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Thank you so much for your comment
My son is now older than you and he was not permitted to play with plastic guns at first. He became quite good at creating horrible weaponry that could do far more damage so I finally gave in and bought him plastic. He is now a peacable suburbanite working in a college. So no harm done.
eosmia
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Reminds me never to forget.
J, excellent. In a few lines, you've managed to call up images in my memory -- images of fear of doom rising up out of humanity's relentless penchant for war.
The poem also reminds me of a little incident about a year ago: I was walking by Lincoln Park in the neighborhood and a little kid, no more than 4 or 5, pointed his fist at me, with his index finger outward, and smilingly yelled, "Pow!" Cute? For him, yes. But in that instant, all my memories of war came back: Nazis, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, huddling under our 10th grade desks in case of an H-bomb, insurrections, and just plain good old ordinary American street shootings. My blood stopped cold. Then the kid and I walked our separate ways.
I guess I don't need to say that your poem is a knockout. And I'm glad that all those younger poets' comments below mine are moved by it, too. But, and here's my cynicism: they'll soon have their own nightmarish memories that will have to explained to their oblivious grandkids.
Very fine, J. And allow me to poke my nose into your business: please return that submachine gun and get the kid a pop-up fairytale book! Sorry, I couldn't resist that!
L.. Rewarded 4
Silver Spirit
June 28, 2006