Leonard Bird: Poet of nuclear age, died last week

timmuggs

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Sunday October 24, 2010 · 8:21 PM PDT

2010/10/24 · 20:21

Leonard "Red" Bird was a poet with a unique perspective on the nuclear age.

As an 18 year old marine, he was ordered to observe a nuclear explosion in the Nevada desert in 1951 -- to dig the foxhole, get in, get out, and view the blast through blackened photographic film, on command from loudspeakers mounted near the viewing area.

His poem "Mourning Dove" is a searing description of that moment that reverberates today.

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