Witness To A Small Miracle
Written & Narrated By New York City Poet / Artist John DeAngelo
Once while on convoy
when I foolishly stood up
to photograph the fireballing
sunset among the mountains
and green, green landscape,
both compelled and convulsed
by the exploding rainbow sky
in this lush and bloody country,
forgetting for a moment the war
that never took a break,
a sniper’s bullet
whistled past my ear.
I guess I had presented
too tempting a pop-up target
against the thunderous blue sky.
It was the closest I ever came to death.
When I stopped shaking,
I somehow knew for certain
that I would make it home alive.
It was like a miracle or vision –
the war had had its chance
to kill me and missed.
The strange thing was
everyone in the truck
at once, and to a man
considered themselves
now blessed too
and in fact, they were.
John DeAngelo was born and raised in Greenwich Village. And if asked, he’ll tell you that he’s always been an artist, both a poet and visual artist. John is a Vet who served as a Medic in Vietnam. Whether out of fear of death or boredom (probably both), he first began writing and photographing seriously. After making it home more or less intact, he received a degree in English from William Paterson University. He subsequently pursued graduate study in Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, where his focus was poetry and was fortunate to study with the poet Nathaniel Tarn, who took him under his tutelage.
He has been published in various magazines and journals, has a chapbook entitled “Beginnings and Ends,” and in August, 2020, published his newest book, Trump: American Carnage, on Amazon.
Email: [email protected]
To accommodate his other passion, he also took graduate Fine Arts courses, specializing in photography and digital mediums ( painting, collage, mixed media) and has exhibited in both Chelsea and SoHo. Some of his visual art can be viewed at www.yessy.com/johndeAngelo