Presque vu

[Mark]

.

It's strange,
how The Cuban Missile Crisis
started
as a Turkish missile crisis.




Edited
 

[bruise]

.
Presque vu

Strange,
how the Cuban missile crisis
started
as a Turkish missile crisis.



 

I added the title back into the quote as without it the poem doesn't work. I know absolutely nothing about the Turkish missile crisis, so the poem causes me to look out for that and to learn what that was about. In a historical sense, that's a big big claim, so I'll be interested to see if I agree with it.

I like that it's a short, pointed, brief poem, with no fat, no nothing, beyond the point. I like the lineation of strange and started, and the pattern of the other two lines.

Off to search... "Turkish missile crisis"

[bruise]

Sure enough

In 1961, after a failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the United States moved American Jupiter ballistic missiles into Italy and Turkey. This put American missiles within range of Moscow. In response, the Soviets sent nuclear warheads to Cuba. ... The presence of Jupiter missiles affected Turkey domestically and internationally.

[Tracy Mitchell]

Love how the title  sets the tension and the four following lines define the thought.

Succinct. I also like shifting focus.  The Cuban Missile Crisis was very real and frightening to the US, yet we know little of how NATO offensive missiles in Turkey created a similar sense of fright in the USSR.  Your quad equates the two in a way that historical discussion rarely has.

Nice, Mark.

T

[Colm Roe]

Neat poem, Mark. 
I learned something new, thanks.
The title is perfect; two words that add incredible detail and depth. 

[Mark]

Thanks guys

To round off this little bit of history, the rest of the Kennedy-Kruschev deal involved the removal of the American missiles from Turkey and an undertaking from the US not to invade Cuba again - but it was to all be kept secret until 1970. The Russkis were always bad at PR...unlike the well-spun Imperial Mafia whose nefarious history is simply staggering.

I like that it's a short, pointed, brief poem, with no fat, no nothing, beyond the point. I like the lineation of strange and started, and the pattern of the other two lines.

Ben, I'm partial to the 'quad' format which can be self-challenging on multiple levels. I caught the bug from Marc G, the sponsor of this site, who used to compose 4- liners for posting on Twitter while commuting  by train in and out of Chicago. With this one, for example, the lines are metered 2-8-2-8 but typically my lines just slant in or out, i.e. some kind of structure while striving for some sort of minimalism/density. Give it a bash sometime.

     

 

[Mark]

Hm. I hereby announce the first Marc G Quad Poem Challenge. I've had too much practice so I'll be judge and jury. Think of it as the TikTok of poetry so there's no excuse about time. Can you please knock us up a page, Ty?

[indar]

Hi Mark,

Strange how twelve words could set me off on memories from my youth. 1958, the breathless reports came in hourly and were headlines above the fold in newspapers: the Lebanon crisis:

1958 Lebanon crisis - Wikipedia

I clipped those newspaper articles thinking I was documenting the start of WW3. Always there was that overarching threat that could end humankind: the fear that somebody might go crazy and drop the big one--oh wait, somebody did.

We do lurch from one possible disaster to another as your poem so succinctly reminds us.
 

[Dave]

The poem poses an interesting historical statement, which jsut happens to be what I have readng about. Very frightening.

Anyway I am intrigued that you say the poem has a 2828 scheme, which would mean that for you 'strange' is a two syllable word whereas it would be a single syllable one for me. Or am I reading that wrongly?

Dave
 

[Mark]

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?