Child of the Cold War,
trained to see mushroom clouds
as the avatar of devastation,
entertained by movies
about Day-After desolation
and gamma-ray mutation,
I now, to preserve my life,
must submit to
intentional radiation.
Is it any wonder
that my primary reaction
is cogntive dissonance
and bemused mystification?
Brinkmanship
Filed under poetry
Ruth Hull Chatlien 
Nice poem. Have you been writing long?
Thank you. Yes, I’ve been writing since I was a child.
I think that sounds like just the right way to feel.
I was born before the fall of the Berlin Wall, so too late for duck and cover and mushroom clouds; my fascination in such things came much, much later. But your cognitive dissonance, I feel I understand, at least intellectually.
Thanks, Jen. I was born several years before the building of the Berlin Wall. LOL
Cognitive dissonance, yes, but much courage.
Thank you. I don’t feel very courageous.
JF Dulles wouldn’t get it.
Perhaps not, although I imagine he would be somewhat envious at how far cancer treatment has come since his day.