Prescient Poem about Writing for Publication

Writing for the AMS [American Meteorological Society]
George W. Mindling
Official in Charge, Weather Bureau Office
Atlanta, Georgia, March 29, 1939

Did you ever write a paper for the AMS
In a Weather Bureau office without great distress
While the sky was dark and gloomy with a threat of coming rain
And the phone was always ringing? Did each call give you a pain?

Did you start in some clear morning thinking, “This will be the day
When there won’t be any bother and I’ll make some real headway;”
Then there came a delegation from a school across the town,
Asking every kind of question? Did they get your spirits down?
While you searched the heavy volumes of the old time Signal Corps
And the books of recent authors for their scientific lore,
Did some life insurance agent slip in on you by surprise?
Did he spoil the entire morning? Did it make your dander rise?
When you found the book you wanted, found the place to prove your point,
Did some lawyer come a running, throw your thoughts all out of joint?
Did you have to stop your writing, follow out the lawyer’s clue,
Tabulate the facts he wanted, certify that they were true?
When your thoughts were well collected and your fingers tapped the keys
Of your trusty ten-inch Royal writing paragraphs with ease,
Did some one barge in to see you from Associated Press?
Did he take an hour you needed for the AMS?

Thanks to John Knox for pointing this out to me.

Source: NOAA History’s Weather Man Poems

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