3000 A.D. (poem) by Michael Lance Kersting on AuthorsDen

3000 A.D.
by Michael Lance Kersting → (All Poetry by Michael Lance Kersting)
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Post nuclear war scenario.
3000 A.D. The misshapen Cave dweller slept And dreamt of flying machines moving to and fro in The sky. He heard sirens blaring Screaming people, with expressions of stark terror, Etched on their faces Running hither thither for safety From the falling missiles As tall steel-glassed structures Crumbled, destroying all beneath He saw a vehicle hurling towards him And he awoke with a piercing scream that echoed Through the cold ,dank cave And wondered where the dream came from Later that day, as he was hunting for food, which Was very scarce he kicked over a rusty metallic object lying in the burnt out grass Taking it up, he looked at the strange markings on it turning it around and about in his hands. Being unable to read, he threw it away in disgust And continued on his hunt. The markings read in a faded script : Donated by the Red Cross Society USA *10/10/2050*

Reviewed by Charlie

Reviewed on February 2, 2012

I felt that this was very much a "Twilight Zone" write--futuristic, and with that characteristic twist on the end. Okay, so it's a bit si-fi, but really, it does have some interesting and emotional messages to it. My mind can't help but turn back a few years to Haiti's 2010 earthquake. I've been closely involved in some fund-raising for an orphanage there (both prior and after the quake), and can tell you how serious and sad a social disease illiteracy is--how it is a metaphorical prison sentence, and sometimes a sentence of well-being and death as well. In your poem, here he holds possibly food or medicine in his hands, and because he can't read, he chucks it away... crazy true, albeit fantasy.

Nit-picks: a few odd comma locations (dislocations?), and odd breaks in the verbage that make it less dramatic than it otherwise might be. All in all, a good read. --Charlie