Nuclear Winter - the Aftermath

nuclear_winter

Global famine under blackened skies

Permafrost, radiation, darkness

High noon in a nuclear winter

Ozone layer long forgotten

Ultraviolet cancers commonplace

Electromagnetic radiation from above

Thermal and Ionizing radiation from below

Brackish water, salted and contaminated

Fallout storms the new black rollers

Half-lives measured in centuries

Ocean life failing to thrive

Metropolitan areas now empty hives

Craters that go on for miles

Global Cooling and its new meaning

Survival relies on random exclusions

Being in the right place during the wrong

Survivors counting Rads and losing hair

Beta, gamma, protons, neutrons

What difference does it make?

Potassium iodine worth its weight in gold

Reproduction a foregone conclusion

Re-population not a consideration

The dead lie in state, gruesome reminders

Strange new coloration of the landscape

Stream beds empty from vaporization

Buildings shifted from rapid expansion

Shock-waves and structural art

Twisted metal, powdered stone

Stragglers with flash burns that never heal

Ground Zero is everywhere

In catastrophe nothing matters but humanity

So few remain, even fewer stay sane

Overload on pain and suffering

The first few months, the worst ones pass

When the dying finally move on

And the living decide to keep living

Reverting to all out cooperation

Language, sex, or skin color ignored

Survival and the bonds it forms

Irrelevant recall of who you were

In this new world everyone’s an amateur

The goal to live another day

Promoting peace in all they say

Nuclear winter punishment

For sins the few survivors did not commit

Technology, power, globalization

All complacent in stoic participation

The needless death of a generation

aftermath

Summary

As human beings, we are often challenged with situations which test our mettle to an unexpected and unheard of level. The impact and after-effects of global nuclear war would rewrite the book and redefine the term “unheard of.” Yet, despite the horror and huge loss of life, humankind would not just disappear. In fact, we can expect that any remaining survivors would find each other and immediately begin the process of rebuilding.

Links to Other Dystopian Works

The Night Whispered Death in His Ear

Lucid Oppression – Slavery Through Technology

The Utopia Found in Dystopian Poetry – A Writer’s Perspective

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thegypsy

Owner/Admin at The Gypsy Thread

Ralph is a practicing witch, published author, pagan historian, webmaster, and collector of knowledge.He also owns an international creative writing website called The Creative Exiles,