Arc of the Poet, Part 3: True Love

Thank you very much for your interest in my education and exploits as a poet over the past 20 years. With Arc of the Poet, I’m aiming to share the most interesting highlights and lowlights as briefly, and as colorfully, as possible.

Even before 1990 had officially begun, I recall feeling anxious for it to be over. It truly was an endurance test for me, involving one marathon ordeal after another. I turned 23 that year, with no fanfare, and I took that as a sign of maturity. I also persevered in seizing my military and college experiences with the best of my thoughts and abilities, which I saw as evidence of my growing strength and confidence. By the time it ended, 1990 gave me a great deal in return for all my efforts.

Looking back now, 21 years later, I think my determination to forge my own career path as a freelance professional is the richest of many valuable life lessons I carried into 1990. For that reason, I now have extra appreciation for this poem I stopped to write back on December 30, 1989. Its final stanza puts that important mindset into clear perspective.

Another idea I embraced during those days was that there’s no such thing as defeat, only education. In January, I set my sights on graduating in December with two B.A. degrees. In the course of earning the 33 upper-level college credits necessary to pull that off, I took on new duties with my Air Force Reserve unit, and worked as a freelance word processor and audiovisual stage-hand. All that work barely kept me above the poverty level, but my motivations were clear; since every choice was completely self-driven, I was determined to succeed.

Through all these experiences, I was being graded by instructors, supervisors in many industries, military officers, professionals stretching from the top to the bottom of the creative industry, and even editors and readers at my university’s newspaper. For the last 16 months before graduating, I wrote a weekly humor column entitled “Observations.” Looking over the journal I kept, I can see that one day in October, the editor in chief told me point blank: “I think some of what you write is shit.” I cut myself some slack, knowing how hard I had to work to write those columns, but took her criticism on the chin, and kept on learning and trying to improve.

Fortunately, a few key positive developments shaped up, too, and together with the unwavering support from my family, my good friend and roommate Jay Lerew, and many other close friends, that proved to be all I needed. My humor column helped me win a Scripps Howard Foundation Fellowship … but much more importantly, it also helped me win the heart of an amazing girl named Beth Ann Kiefert. Friends, I am very proud to say that the addition of this young lady into my life is the key ingredient in the joyous, rewarding life walk I’ve been enjoying ever since.

From June through August that year, Beth took off with a few friends to backpack across Europe. Ultimately, that period was intensely productive for me, as I maniacally threw myself into one duty or commitment after another, trying my best to stay busy until her return. I set goals to write a novella, a full-length screenplay, and a collection of my poetry specifically for children. Although none of those projects came together during those weeks, I did organize my poems chronologically, type them up and begin preparing a few submissions for local writing competitions.

By the time December was ending, I had collected my diplomas and my Honorable Air Force discharge, and started building a new life with the girl of my dreams. Suddenly, my next-level goals were coming within reach. At that magical moment in time, I saw literary recognition and success as one possible path to financial freedom, which I felt would allow me to read and write to my heart’s content. While I also had to recommit to the opportunities I could line-up as a freelance wage-earner, I began mounting serious efforts to get my creative writing into print. Guiding and supporting my ambitions was this beautiful, energetic, vivacious girl, who that year gave me the most prized of worldly possessions for keeps: true love.