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The Center for Artificial Indifference

The End… A Poem…

February 28th, 2008 | Category: Haiku & Poetry, Realities

finis
I recently found this attempt at poetry, written during my Junior year in high school. After a bit of cleanup and editing, it seemed a good idea to post it to show that many years ago, I had at least a slight amount of talent. OK, I know. It’s not very good, but it does capture the dark mood of the nuclear stare-down that was going on during the Cold War. Even to a small town teenager, those were scary days, never knowing when we might be blasted from the face of the planet, even before finishing our cherry coke. Come to think of it, there are hints of that in the air these days. It’s not the USSR and it’s not a global superpower, but once you’re vaporized, details don’t matter much…

12 Comments so far

  1. Elsie February 29th, 2008 6:28 am

    Dear Winston, it is very good. Having a teenager who also believes we never know when (or by whom) we might be blasted from the face of the planet, I’d have to say that your 50-year-old poem is also timeless. It talks to all of us. I think I would have liked your 17-year-old self. Thanks for sharing.

  2. Winston February 29th, 2008 6:59 am

    Elsie, how very good to see you emerging from your unfortunate absence. Hope all is well. Thanks for your kind comments. As to my 17-year old self — naahhh — I was quite nerdy. Kind of like I am now, is suppose, only more so…

  3. Rain February 29th, 2008 8:14 am

    I like that poem. People in each generation though have their scary things to deal with, I guess. The feeling that it could all be over in an instant has long been with us. Perhaps it’s genetic memory :) Each one probably thinks it’s the worse for them but the belief in life’s fragility is with us in one form or another and you captured it well.

  4. Bonnie February 29th, 2008 9:58 am

    Having just read Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”, I was intrigued by the theme you chose years ago. I recommend the book, even though I didn’t want to read about such a gloomy scenario. Seems it is in the subconcious of us all.

    By the way, I am no literary critic, but I thought the poem was certainly worth the exposure.

  5. Joy February 29th, 2008 1:31 pm

    A Junior in high school….I am very impressed by the depth of your words Winston. Even back then you expressed yourself so beautifully…nerd that you say you were/are. It really is terrific.

  6. rosie February 29th, 2008 2:39 pm

    the world needs more nerds

  7. Barbara February 29th, 2008 4:34 pm

    The poem is good! Write some more.

  8. Jean February 29th, 2008 5:25 pm

    Add me to the round of applause!

    (however, for a split second, because you have this year after 1958, I thought the post was going to say you were dead! Don’t scare me like that!)

  9. twomartini February 29th, 2008 8:37 pm

    Jean,

    My heart skipped a beat also when I saw:

    “Winston Rand 1958 - 2008″

    But only one beat because I knew he was born much sooner than that. 1941 if I’m not mistaken. That would make him a Junior in 1958 if I did the math right. Did it in my head without calculator or slide rule so of course I could be wrong.

    I sure don’t miss the days when we had “atomic bomb” drills when we had to get under our desks and put our heads between our knees. Those weren’t fun days.

  10. Winston February 29th, 2008 8:49 pm

    Nope, 1942. I was a friggin’ prodigy, aka a young smart-ass…

  11. Eric March 1st, 2008 11:40 am

    … most excellent, sir….. keep on rockin’….

  12. Liz March 2nd, 2008 4:11 pm

    That is very dark. I particularly like the lines:
    Now with him gone the Earth is ruled
    by the peace of his utopian dream.