Presque vu

[ajduclos]

Thanks Linda. That deployment was seemingly a test run of the Eisenhower Doctrine.  

Thanks for looking, Dave. I guess it depends on how much emphasis is placed on the S sound when spoken. Perhaps it is a silent sibilant in some pronunciations.

History trivia question for you to research: How many US troops were boots-on-the-ground in Russia fighting the birth of communism approximately 100 years ago?

 



 

About 5,000 US troops - totally unreported and totally forgotten.  
Great concise poem, Mark.  So much in so few words.  Describes again how quickly we forget... so let's do it again and abut the Bear with more and more missiles... and feign that no reaction would be expected.
Aj  
 

[Colm Roe]

13,000
War can be a seriously complex endeavour. Especially for those poor bastards who didn't know why they were there.
Your poem reflects the Russian fear of NATO being too close to its borders, or the alleged fear, the excuse to invade....
Russia and China playing games; how far can they push the weak West who don't like the idea of body-bags. They don't want WW3, 
but if Ukraine or Taiwan is invaded and the West don't intervene militarily we're all fucked.  
 

[ajduclos]

13,000
War can be a seriously complex endeavour. Especially for those poor bastards who didn't know why they were there.
Your poem reflects the Russian fear of NATO being too close to its borders, or the alleged fear, the excuse to invade....
Russia and China playing games; how far can they push the weak West who don't like the idea of body-bags. They don't want WW3, 
but if Ukraine or Taiwan is invaded and the West don't intervene militarily we're all fucked.  

You are correct, Colm.  I forgot about those 8000 poor bastards that got deposited at Vladivostok in the Russian east, on the Pacific.  And those 5000 up in Archangel were met with some hell.
Aj
 

[TrevorConway]

Hi Mark,

This struck me as a good, arresting opening to a poem. I think you need to explore things a lot more, dealing with how history/the media twists things. Otherwise, it feels very glib, at least to me. I'd look forward to reading it if you did decide to develop it.

All the best,

Trev 

[Mark]

Thanks aj and Trev, for comments.

I have 13 000 as well, along with representation from GB, France, Japan and several other allied nations.

 

[Mark]

Dave, I think you were right about the syllable count in L1. Thanks, fixed.