A Big Pile of Dirt

Here's a little poem I wrote a few days ago. About Oklahoma . . . and other things.

A Big Pile of Dirt

It used to sit right next to I-35

just north of Norman,

a big pile of orange-red dirt

all grown over with grass

except for a big chunk of it

that looked like some guy

as big as Paul Bunyan had just kicked

the hell out of it.

Actually, it was a guy with a bomb.

Old Okies knew and new ones found out

the pile was a remnant of WWII, part of

a target range for hotshot Navy pilots

flying cool Corsairs and Hellcats,

practicing for shooting up the Pacific.

It took years for that pile of dirt

to disappear, for that reminder

of old hatreds and threats to the American

way to give way to sturdier

brick and mortar monuments

to the blessings of American liberty:

a Target Super Store

with a big pile of flattened cardboard

shipping containers out back.