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Making a Mark (Free verse) by andrew barnes
When the super volcano beneath Yellowstone Park finally erupts, an asteroid strikes with the colossal force which wiped the dinosaurs from pre-history, the third antichrist, Mabus, comes to brief power as Nostradamus predicted, a stray nuclear warhead enters American airspace triggering their ballistic missile defense capability, the reactor at Three Mile Island begins irreversible fusion-driven melt-down, accelerated technological change fast-tracks the self-reproductive development of virtual intelligence, Judaism, Christianity and Islam clash in the final holy war, global warming melts the Polar ice-cap, raising the sea level, switching off the Gulf Stream currents and heralding a new ice age in continental Europe, then, there will be no marks or traces, writing, building, painting, sculpture, no Sistine chapel, or shapes scratched in the sand with a twig. Turns out even immortality has a time limit.

Down the ladder: Love in Winter Storage

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Arithmetic Mean: 6.0
Weighted score: 5.119203
Overall Rank: 5692
Posted: May 21, 2005 12:03 PM PDT; Last modified: May 21, 2005 12:03 PM PDT
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Comments:
[n/a] deleted user @ 81.69.23.196 | 21-May-05/2:10 PM | Reply
Except for the last five lines this is plainly a 20th Century Fox Disaster scenario. Let's add some fun:

As Mabus' toes were freezing off, he lighted a match to thaw them.
Right at that moment, God lifted His hem
and farted,
with a soft crackle
the universe exploded
and the end of immortality smothered even Satans cackle
[8] richa @ 81.178.138.147 | 22-May-05/1:44 PM | Reply
Fair enough. I agree with W though. There is a missed opportunity to be creative in the early part.
[n/a] deleted user @ 81.69.23.196 > richa | 23-May-05/12:06 AM | Reply
I have to admit; there's 16 lines of pure, undulated Satan's poetry in this...
[n/a] andrew barnes @ 80.195.91.19 > deleted user | 23-May-05/5:46 AM | Reply
"undulated Satan's poetry" ? Do you really mean it looks like the gently rolling hills of hell or perhaps you just couldn't spell undiluted ?
[n/a] deleted user @ 81.69.23.196 > andrew barnes | 23-May-05/3:52 PM | Reply
Sorry. Satan may see hell as a gently rolling place,(he's the proud owner after all) but I meant 'undiluted'.
[5] Dovina @ 69.175.32.185 | 23-May-05/12:14 PM | Reply
An interesting scenario of possible outcomes. The ending seems wrong though, because some traces of humanity would doubtless remain. And immortality having a time limit is just mis-worded.
[n/a] andrew barnes @ 80.195.91.19 > Dovina | 24-May-05/1:05 PM | Reply
The intended point of the poem is that popular culture and conspiracy theory would have us believe that in the face of these possible scenarios humanity would not endure .......that life is in fact pointless since even our vague traces would be removed.....thus our attempts at immortality are in fact "timelimited"......depressing isn't it ! Having said that there is an intended element of irony in the poem......I'm not wholly of this world view myself !
[5] Dovina @ 69.175.32.185 > andrew barnes | 24-May-05/1:14 PM | Reply
Since humanity would probably survive any of these potential catastrophies, why would some conspiracy theory say otherwise, and if there is immortality, why would it matter how we die?
[n/a] andrew barnes @ 80.195.91.19 > Dovina | 24-May-05/2:07 PM | Reply
We seek immortality of a kind through leaving a mark.....painting, sculpture, poetry even. The poem is trying to say that if these type of theories about catastrophic world endings are true then our attempts at immortality are doomed to failure......so in that sense it does matter how we die.Or perhaps it doesn't ? Maybe I'm digging a hole here and I should just stop !!
[7] zodiac @ 212.118.19.156 | 27-May-05/2:17 AM | Reply
There is no reason to believe some art from our time won't make it past the next epic disaster. Um, proto-human art DID survive the last ice age. Of course, most of that was just interestingly shaped rocks.

I thought "stray nuclear warhead" was funny, though. Like it was just looking for the loo and got lost.
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