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This was a past english assignment. I was to write a poem of a historical event with emphasis on smell. I wrote the poem but I am not very good at writing poetry with meter or rhyme or anything like that - especially the night before it is due.

Between the years of 1946 and 1953, more than seventy young boys were reduced to guinea pigs in a medical experiment regarding dangerous radioactive material. In Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham, Massachusetts, these boys sat down to a breakfast of oatmeal and milk laced with radioactive iron and calcium and forced to eat everything. To disguise this medical experiment even more, these boys were also befriended by the scientists in an attempt to gain their trust.

Oh, how I remember
My Science Club as a child.
Away from the prison disguised as school,
Where odors of detergent and blood filled and stung my nose
As well as the sores inflicted upon my body.

On our outings all we could smell
Were the salt of the oceans
And the roasting ‘dogs from Fenway Park,
Wherever we decided to go that day.
There were also the wonderful smells of food
From Christmas parties of MIT.

No smell could remind me
Of the gifts these men gave as well.
The watches and armbands
All for the sake of seeing me smile.
But I cherished these,
For I thought they meant I was wanted.

However, I would later learn,
That none of this was a simple act of kindness.
That warm, sweet-smelling oatmeal
I was fed for breakfast
On the day of every outing?

Those sweet smells served no purpose,
Unless you consider the metallic smells
Of sickening iron and calcium
That needed to be hidden.
Every morning I was forced to clean my bowl,
Never smelling these poisons
That could take terrible tolls on my health.
Oh, how I remember.

Unfortunately, yes.

Walter E. Fernald State School is no longer a children's institution for that reason.