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Syndic Literary Journal

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

 

 

 

 

Compiled/Published by LeRoy Chatfield
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