It was my first visit to Chernobyl since the reactor meltdown years ago. I grew up there as a child; rode the Ferris Wheel and Bumper Cars in the park. My father worked in a one of many factories owned by the government.
As our SUV pulled into the radiation zone, I could see things had changed. The grass was green, the sky was blue, and wild foxes roamed the fields nearby looking for rabbits and field mice. But, there was an eerie sad silence that seemed to wrap its arms around me.
Pulling up to the factory where my father went each day, I could see the jagged glass broken in the windows; the sagging doors were orange with rust. “No one left and no one came on the bare platform.” Hell must be like this I thought; memories of what once was…
Today at d’verse we are doing Prosery, combining poetry into a 144 word prose piece. Sarah gave a line form a poem that must be incorporated into our flash fiction piece. Our line today comes from a poem called Adelstrop by Edward Thomas. It is: “No one left and no one came on the bare platform.”
Join us at: https://dversepoets.com
Bing photo from a YouTube clip.
Chernobyl indeed, terrific prompt platform. Disasters, like the 50 tornadoes that hit the midwest last night are becoming much too prevalent. God help us
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Thank Glenn. I saw a PBS documentary on life after Chernobyl. Very chilling what happened there… and in Fucoshima as well.
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<3… I just read the new book released last year about that – "Midnight in Chernobyl." It was chilling!
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Dwight- I really love you used Chernobyl as your setting. Well done!
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Thank you so much Linda. I wanted something that no one else would probably use.
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Powerful and chilling Dwight…
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Thank you Ivor! Very chilling indeed!
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Wonderful
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Thank you very much!
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You’re welcome
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vivid chilling piece … and the radiation is increasing as the fires burn nearby … staying home for a virus is a cruise, oops a holiday, after this!
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Yes, this is nothing like permanent contamination!
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chilling …
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Can’t help but wonder how close to this we will all be once the lockdown measures are dropped, places still so fmiliar, changed by such events. Thank you
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Thank you for your thoughts. We never know from one day to the next how our life will change. Live each day to the full!
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I know someone who’d visited, and he has nightmares still. Not helped by the eerie streets of COVID-19.
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Wow! sounds really bad!
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It was for him. I suspect there were other reasons why, and what this awakened for him, but yes, it haunts him still.
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Very sad!
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Yes.
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Both the picture and words are very haunting.
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Thank you. It really is chilling!
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Difficult times make us think of other disasters.
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It does take us there… Thanks Reena.
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Terriff look back story, Dwight. The void of that disaster projects into life after this pandemic
Thanks for dropping by to read mine
Much🌼love
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Thank you … you are welcome!
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Great job with it, Dwight, I was sorry it ended too soon!
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Yes, It could have gone on to realize that there are some people who have moved back there in spite of the radiation. Thanks Michael!
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144 words makes a story very condensed!
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captured the essence of the line and the haunting memory of this real-life event. great one, Dwight.
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Thank you so much for your comment!
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Horrid what happened there. A bare platform indeed.
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Yes, very sad!
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So different and utterly chilling, Dwight, with just enough detail to set the scene, especially the ‘eerie sad silence that seemed to wrap its arms around me’.We have that eerie silence in our village.
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Thank you Kim. I am glad you could feel the tension in this one. It is very unsettling to know there is are places like this in the world. (In Japan as well)
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For humans, regret and sadness. For nature, freedom to renew… (k)
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The earth seems to always go on! With humans it remains to be seen.
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A very chilling and powerful piece, Dwight!
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Thank you Rashi! A reminder that we are always living on the edge. Anything can happen in a given day!
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That is so true, Dwight! We should just make the most of each day.
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Chernobyl is like a distant memory I will always carry with me… after all Sweden is not that far from where it happened.
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That is true! You probably got some residual fallout from it.
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Interesting, I need to read this!
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Thank you… it is unsettling to see this place!
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