pounding drums
bass lead guitars
keyboard other instruments
my eardrums earthquaking
lost half my hearing
years ago explosion
bomb on wing of a plane
fully fueled munitioned
in between
that then this now
construction destruction
shouting whispering
I just love
3 a.m. on a country road
cracked window air
crescendo decrescendo
no radio
no voices
curves and straightaways
vision dark ahead
muse the coming
light of dawn
Richard Eric Johnson lives and writes poetry in Arlington, Virginia. He has authored five full-length poetry collections and his poetry has appeared in numerous online and print journals. Eric is also a Pushcart nominee. He most recently was honored to be archived at La Salle University’s Connelly Library. He is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. in Germanic Languages and an M.S. in Education. After a tour in Viet Nam and West Berlin, he embarked on a career as a public servant and is now very happily retired.