Sherman Pearl is a former journalist turned poet who has
achieved international acclaim for his work. This poem, "Basic Training," is a simple picture of
military life and structure which becomes much more intimate as the work progresses. All of the
rigors of transforming a man into a soldier are listed here: polishing boots to pass inspection,
making no excuses for anything, standing interminably at attention, doing menial and mindless
tasks, marching and finishing without falling or failing. Each of these tasks are designed to
make the man surrender self in order to become a soldier:
it was learning to surrender that made me [a]
soldier
This poem is addressed to the
soldier's son, and it becomes personal when he expresses his wish that his son could stand next
to him "on this barren parade ground." Years after his own basic training, the narrator
expresses his longing for that same experience of breaking and building for his son. What
made him a man would do the same for his
son.
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