The Cadence of Complacency
First Prize Winner at 1986 Annual Writer's Conference
Published in Beacon, Fall 1986
Copyright © 1951, 2004
Jason Lester Atkins
985 Fleet Drive, #347
Virginia Beach, VA 23454
All Rights Reserved.
What are we to lose
or gain,
If we war with Iraq or
Outlaw Spain?
Must the same old cycle
Still repeat
Of war and peace and
No Retreat?
Should we purchase with blood
A brief respite,
To form new quarrel or
Breed new fight?
Must nations rise to build
And stand sublime,
To forget ghosts of glory
Lost in time?
Where is the culture of which
We boast,
Where is the progress our
Technology toasts?
Are all our values set by
Political yard?
Is faith among peoples
Of no regard?
Should nations waste for
A nuclear toy,
To see truths in the glazed eye of
A gut-shot boy?
Must people accept the
Abstractions of power,
Then trade their best chances for a
Tall mushroom tower?
Do needs in the tribal breast
Still pound,
To produce shear butchery with an
Artillery round?
World’s millions now wait
In subconscious dread,
Fearing the outburst to be doomed
In their bed!
Why still bow our head but
Not our heart,
To listen in peace for the
War drum start?
Nations could rise to kill this
Farce of the race,
And choose shared attitudes as themes
In its place.
Resident Takes CNC Poetry Prize
Jason Lester Atkins of Susan has won First Prize in poetry in a writing contest sponsored by Christopher Newport College, Newport News. The announcement was made Saturday during the Fifth Annual Writer's Conference at the college.
Atkins' poem, "The Cadence of Complacency," was selected from more than 100 entries for the top honor. He received an engraved silver bowl and a certificate.
Atkins, a native of Hampton, has been a frequent visitor to Mathews for many years, and a permanent resident since 1977. He retired in 1980 from Combined International Investment Group, headquartered in Chicago.
His prize winning poem deals with the threat of war.
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