Cold War Reheated

Red geraniums rust
in September rain;
sparrows splash dust
in puddles forming on the path.
Once again, men point their weapons at the sky
in far-off places I
have never been
and will never go,
reawakening fears
that Cold Wars
would become heated
in memories of a child petrified
by serious grey words that dripped
from monochrome television lips.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

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Image found on bbc.co.uk

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Play it Again, Toads!

This weekend, Kerry invites us to revisit archived challenges of the Imaginary Garden.  We can also select a prompt from the three she has highlighted. I have chosen Grace’s Sunday’s Mini-challenge: Carilda Olivar Labra.

Grace’s challenge was to write a new poem or prose poem in response to Carilda’s words. I had never heard of the Cuban poet Carilda Olivar Labra, even though she is one of the most influential Cuban poets, and was delighted to make her acquaintance. The poems Grace included in her prompt are passionate and, especially ‘Declaration of Love, topical.

 

17 thoughts on “Cold War Reheated”

  2. It’s the North Korean Missile Crisis now, but love and war are facing off the same way. We’re getting old for this stuff. Who do we doom again with the last three lines of your poem (which are drilling, by the way).

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    1. They certainly are – even more so now they are all over the Internet. I’m not sure whether I prefer the innocent ignorance of my childhood or the bombardment of information we have today.

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  5. Those monochrome television lips create a lot of stress these days when they have changed to living colour. I remember the fear I felt back then. Now I am old and weary and rather resigned that human consciousness simply refuses to evolve.

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  6. I remember those black and white lips well. I was a teen and cynical. I remember sitting in and stuff like that in protest of the Vietnam war. I remember wearing the POW bracelets. But I also remember writing and signing petitions to get the vets of that war their rights, their medical benefits…I do the same now for our Afghani vets but we seem to have progressed since then. I do believe that humans are not destroying goodness. I guess I refuse to roll over to the popular naysayers and doomsday prophets. I believe in us. We hear so much about the badness humans do and not as much of the good. Thank you for this thoughtful poem. I am sorry to have gone off on such a tangent. I’ll blame it on all the massive painkillers I’ve been taking. Yes!!!! I’ll blame it on the painkillers/

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    1. Thank you for responding in such detail and with passion, Toni. Not living in the US, I didn’t understand anything until the Vietnam war was almost over and was completely shocked when I finally did. I was living in Ireland when the Falkland war took place, another war I didn’t understand. I just don’t get war.

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      1. I don’t either Kim. The Crusades, the Zulu War, the war waged on the desert folks by Britain (Lawrence of Arabia)…Wounded Knee…I don’t understand the whys and wherefores of it. I just know that in American at least, when the combatants come home, they need our support due to PTSD – another side effect of modern wars….I just wish we could all of us get along.

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  7. from the colours at the start that end in monochrome – the way cold wars heat and fear grips us. Truly great poem Kim on Carilda’s theme – am sure she would love it too

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