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Chernobyl Fallout; Caesium 137
When every bus was
ordered away to
assist the City's
evacuation,
we stayed,
and played,
and ate our blinis,
oblivious to the exodus
as secrecy exposed us
to our unseen half life.
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although already mentioned, I like how much you conveyed with so little wording. That takes more talent than line after line of flowery prose.
I'll bet you're good at haiku, too. |
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Thank you Jill.
I am so glad you 'got' all that. For whatever reason the government did not warn the people from their traditional Labour day picnics.
It was twenty -one years ago in April. But still the official death toll has not augmented. I'll come by to find your work very soon.
Jenni |
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| Wow, this is very good, Jenni. I gather Caesium 137 was the radioactive fallout after Chernobyl, which had a wide sweep across Russia and Europe. The paradoxical couplet at the end is horrifying, prefiguring the way in which the people exposed would begin to suffer a 'half-life' as the effects of radiation, perhaps secret to the world, peeled away their health and community. The apparently mundane repetition of sounds drumming home this tragedy as they ate their pancakes while the nightmare unfolded is chilling. An excellent poem. |
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| The brevity, the telling imagery, even the subtle wordplay, all work together nicely. |
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| Terrific and concise. |
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