Words are already there; we use them to show 1000s of perspectives and all it takes is selection and order. Wondrous, although perhaps not to your point.

Time implies polish, natch? It represents living with an idea and getting to know an idea in every corner and hopefully, picking out the best aspects of that idea to present in a work. That's not always how great work goes of course, but time ALMOST never hurts.

Time hurts when what you're writing only matters because it just happened.

I'll cede this point because really I just wanted to see if I could find any such poetry. Not with a quick search or two. I bet if a still-popular-enough-to-be-easily-searchable poet has written at least an Iran-Contra poem if not one w/a Hasenfus nod it's this dude. And I see the poem in Hasenfus' story. I'm sure someone has written it. I wrote a poem about Burt and Linda Pugach because I read their story and saw the poem in it.

I like poems-to-process. I frequently, frequently, write them. Poems-to-get-over, poems-to-be-mad, poems-that-show-me-I-cared-more-than-I-thought. I can immediately write process-poems about general, standard, life-knocks-ya-about 'trauma." I find that I can't always immediately write about the big and the bad. I need some space before I can stare it in the face.

If you replace "Virginia Tech" with "the university," (more syllables but same meter so it works), does that soften it back into success for you? Do you think naming V-T was a "name dropping" moment - the narrator dropped the name of the university so that we would realize and connect to that specific school shooting? Or was it just confessional. "It wouldn't be there if he didn't want us to know it," right? Perhaps Hicok was aiming simply for blatant honesty.

Thanks for reading :) - you & all the rest of you.