Illinois Times

Dynamite Poem Part 2

Jacqueline Jackson Feb 22, 2024 4:00 AM

Dynamite Poem Part 2  

My friend Jack lived in his grandfather's house on the

edge of Beloit; the handsome house next door was in 

heritage dispute and uninhabited. The local kids stripped 

the house of anything useful for the war effort: lead in the 

windows for instance. They all watched war movies. So

Jack knew what to do with his salvaged, dried dynamite;  

he and his friends inserted it at intervals at the base of the  

deserted house's impressive stone tower, pulled the switch  

at midnight and down came the edifice exactly like in the

movies. They were never caught – but the explosion broke  

every nearby window in his grandfather's house next door.  

(He didn't include this story in his wartime kids' book either.) 

2024 Jacqueline Jackson