do we plumb
with our layers of numb?
definitions we seek
and the rhymings we tweak
existentially freeze framed
monumentally no named.
aphonic.
tectonic,
politically
bubonic.
mind’s exhale so twee
but my heart
is on its knees…
~
An American friend shared this article about Stanislav Petrov on Facebook today. I had never heard of him, I am ashamed to say. If you have the time, read the article and watch the clip. I promise you, it is worth the time. And honestly, I dare you to not cry.
(From article: In 1983, he was on duty when the Soviet Union’s early warning satellite indicated the U.S. had fired nuclear weapons at his country. He suspected, correctly, it was a false alarm and did not immediately send the report up the chain of command. Petrov died at age 77.)
RIP you remarkable man.
my valiant soul
Oh my.
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saynotoclowns
❤
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braedenmichaels
This is really good!
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saynotoclowns
Thanks Braeden!
This story is so worth sharing. Thanks for reading.
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braedenmichaels
Welcome and yes I did dream about you that one time.
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saynotoclowns
Really? Did I have a cup of tea?
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braedenmichaels
Yes, no you didn’t. We conversed in a coffee house. It was a clean dream.
I thought of you yesterday because I saw the movie “It” due to your blog title lol
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saynotoclowns
I hope the coffee was good. And it wasn’t Starbucks 🙂
haha a couple people have made reference to ‘It’ to me. All I can say is, under no conditions will I be watching it. I’m not even going to ask you how it was 🙂
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braedenmichaels
Actually I’m afraid of clowns and thought I could face my fears. I like horror movies.
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saynotoclowns
I used to like horror movies. But not anymore. I seem drawn to children’s movies, my favourite genre now 🙂
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braedenmichaels
That’s great! I like children’s movies too. We had a long talk in the coffee house and it was nice, lots of depth!
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saynotoclowns
haha were we talking about how much I love Shrek?
I have a hard time remembering the details of my dreams.
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braedenmichaels
Lol, if the dream stands out I can remember it.
Shrek is great
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vidur sahdev
…and love the pic too, V! 🙂
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saynotoclowns
Thanks Vidur! I appreciate that.
It’s about 8 years old. They were so tiny, we almost overlooked them, and I obviously liked the layered symbolism for this post 🙂 (but not to trivialise it in any way, quite the opposite.)
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Ward Clever
Fantastic poem, V!
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saynotoclowns
Thank you, BWC!
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Ward Clever
YW, SNTC!
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Davy D
A lovely and fitting tribute Vanessa to a remarkable man. It is shocking that this story is only making the right headlines on his death. I suspect there may be another story he has taken to his grave.
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saynotoclowns
Thank you!
Yes. It is. There are too many stories that come out too late.
I agree. I would imagine there is at least one other, if not more. I am so moved by his humility. And his loneliness. Such a profoundly moving story.
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Just Barry
I shared this story too! Great minds and whatnot and so forth. 🙂
I enjoyed reading your poem. I liked the loose rhyming scheme and feeling of dread is so real.
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saynotoclowns
Did you? I’ll have to check it out!
And thank you! My thoughts were so fragmented, there’s no way to capture the enormity of all of this really imho. So I decided to just leave it as is without editing. Thanks for the feedback.
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