90s09 Pinpoint Accuracy

Lyrical Iowa is published annually and includes submissions from Iowans all over the state. My Mother has been published in it several times. I submitted pieces several times with no luck. I submitted my students’ writing a few times, too, with limited success. It was one of those things that I really wanted but didn’t think it would happen. I began to think it was way out of my league as a writer.

Four incredible things happened to me in 1991. Being selected for Lyrical Iowa was the first. I’ll tell you about the others later.

Most of the time my poems are just dumb but every once in awhile I hit on something that resonates a little. I seem to be better at humorous ones. I just couldn’t come up with something really good for publication. Eventually, fate took over.

On January 16, 1991, we were stunned with the outbreak of war with Iraq. I wrote that I thought the loss of human lives could be tremendous. I described it all as being very disturbing and that it had captured the world’s attention day and night ever since it started.

Every night on the evening news we were given a rundown of the awesome power of our armed forces and the pinpoint accuracy of the deadly weapons. We watched as shells literally went through the front door of buildings and homes. We seemed so dazzled by the power and technology that we forgot about the people. I was sickened by the spectacle.

After a little research and a lot of thought on the 21st of January I wrote:

Pinpoint Accuracy

Pinpoint accuracy
Abraham’s Ur
The futile crescent
Disappears in a flash

Pinpoint accuracy
Mesopotamia,
The Garden of Eden
Are cratered with bombs

Pinpoint accuracy
The Tower of Babel
Jonah’s Nineveh
Under missile attack

Pinpoint accuracy
Shadrack, Meshach
And Abednego dance
In a napalm fire.

The industrialized fury
Of civilization is turned
On the very land that gave
Civilization birth.

I submitted this to Lyrical Iowa and eventually heard from them. They accepted it and were publishing it in the next edition. The editor wrote me a nice note and mentioned my mother’s extraordinary work. I was elated!

After several tries I had finally gotten in. My Mom told her Scribblers group. Nothing else really happens after you are published except maybe you change a little internally. I don’t know if it was actually there but I felt new credibility as a writer and a teacher. Believing in yourself as a writer can make all of the difference in the world. Perfect timing for a guy getting ready to write his dissertation.

I am not a great poet like other members of my family but I had cracked one of the barriers that at least gave me some credibility. Someday, maybe when I retire and have more time, I’ll work on trying to be a better poet. I work on trying to be a better writer every week when I write these pieces.