Monday, December 17, 2007

THE COLD WAR: What is "Fail-Safe"? (Poem by Samantha Colandrea)



What does "fail-safe" even stand for?
To make sure everything goes right?
Is it to make sure in the worst situation?
That the plane will still take flight?
.
It began when a plane was spotted from Europe
The SAC declared it as a possible threat
But they are not allowed to proceed without orders
So they left it alone without fret
.
The SAC declared for an attack code
They created a bomber group made up of six
The orders are misunderstood because of the radar
And now it is too late for a fix
.
The thought of nuclear war
Causes Colonel to send out the crew
The six flights go toward Moscow
He did not know what else to do
.
Groteschele makes the suggestion
That the U.S. should begin
An attack to make the Soviets
Surrender and give in
.
They made the attack look accidental
This was actually pretty cruel
Except they didn't think it through
And ran out of gas and fuel
.
All six flights went down
And landed them in the sea
The pilots were all dead
And the other plane went free
.
The Soviets make an agreement
With the President of the U.S.
They decline his request at first
But ended up saying yes
.
The air defense shoots down two
Of the six planes unarmed
But the sixth plane should be left alone
Because it will do no harm
.
Because of another disagreement
The sixth plane gets attacked
This was a mistake
That they weren't able to take back
.
The President tries to tell Grady
That there is no war going on
Grady doesn't believe him
And sees it as a con
.
They sent a plane to Moscow
To destroy the city for the "good"
Except this causes a bombing on New York
The Soviets would do what they could
.
The moral of these attacks
Is that war is not worth fighting
It causes all the authorities to argue
When we all should be uniting

__________________

Samantha Colandrea is a college student who responded to the book and film Fail-Safe by writing a poem about it.

-------------------------

We would like to read your war stories, poems, and essays and, possibly, even post them in this blog.
.
This comment section is reserved for work having to do with the THE COLD WAR (circa 1945-1990).
.
Feel free to include a short bio.
.
If you submit your work in the comment section, we may even elevate it to a post.
.
In any case, we will likely leave it in the comment section.
.
By submitting here, you represent that you have written the piece and own the copyright.
.
Previously published work welcome.
.

No comments: