Monday, November 4, 2013

When Writing Became an Obsession


The Pilot
By Josh Watkins

The Young Pilot is safe in bed,
As the morning creeps upon his head.
The mean, cruel voice of the carrier's intercom wakes him up,
The Pilot yawns as he grabs his coffee cup.
He washes his face and straightens his hair,
Because he must never look like a bear.
After the warriors had eaten their morning meal,
They strap up and head for their birds,
Each of them having a different type of feel.
The engines are fired with a loud roar,
There is fear in the pilot's eyes as he prepares for war.
They get the signal and off they go,
Up into the sky to hunt and destroy the foe.
A force of twenty-four heads towards the sky,
Each of them hoping they wont have to say good-bye.
The Pilot and eight other birds veer off from the pack,
They spotted some bogeys and were hot on their tracks.
The radars had scanned four,
But what the brave souls didn't know,
Was that there were eight more.
Out of the blue the fighters soared,
And the sound of the machine guns roared.
Outnumbered twelve to eight,
The pilot and his crew seemed to be bait.
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the sky,
As one foe was fried.
The battle was tough and it was taking too long,
But those mighty warriors fought on.
The Pilot looked at his wing-man with a smile,
But that smile didn't last a while.
For what he saw gave him great pain,
His best buddy had just been slain.
The plane blew with a great force,
So strong, it blew thee bogeys off their course.
The Pilot's eyes lit up with fire,
Revenge was now his only desire.
With his heart filled with anger and hate,
Six more foes met their fate.
Only two evil birds left to go,
The Pilot crushed them with one final blow.
Back to the base the pilot flew,
Looked to the skies and he saw the other two.
Only nine flyers made it back to the base,
Many with a sad look on their face.
Fifteen souls were lost that day,
The survivors knew the enemy was going to pay.
The Pilot looked at the sky with tears in his eyes,
And he gave his final good-bye.
Like a song that had never been sung,
For this pilot, the war had just begun.

It was my sophomore year of high school when I had written this "epic" as my English teacher called it. The inspiration came from the movie Stealth and my fetish for wanting to be a fighter pilot. As a poetry noob, I tried my best to concoct what a pilot would go through before and after battle. Notice I capitalized the pilot all except twice. I think the capitalization was for the thought that he was THE pilot and not just any ordinary pilot. As for the two non-capitalized pilots...my inconsistency.

I know this one needs work and I will edit it eventually, but I like the original version with my attempts to force things to rhyme (see lines 29 and 30; i believe i spent a good half hour trying to decide how to rhyme smile). I also apologize for the lines where the first foe is fried. The transition is awful and feels like there should be something more there. Notice also how I refer to the plans as birds, but in the end I call them flyers...another lame attempt at trying not to be repetitive.

My favorite line here is where "The Pilot's eyes lit up with fire, Revenge was now his only desire." I like the way it sounds and the imagery behind it. Funny how a number of lines I have written in other pieces that I really like contain or refer to fire. I guess that's the inner pyro in me.

And so there you have it. My first major and long poem. I assure you they get better down the road. Also there will be plenty of free verse later on. 

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