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VIETNAM  WAR  POETRY
​
RICHARD ERIC JOHNSON

The Hurricane's Eye
 
out of the blue
white puffy clouds
ever higher
the towering
lightning filled
black night
heart shaking
storm
 
no way around
above or beneath
 
into the eye
of I
and we
 
courage calling
courage needed
courage in question
 
through the eye
past perimeters
of storm
 
we flew
into the aftermath
war zone
 
the hurricane’s eye
a singular moment
tranquility remembered


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



Chop Chop Chopper Huey
 
back home after Nam
anywhere anytime
family and friends
sometimes I’d ask
do you see a helicopter
no
do you hear one
no
very soon
oh, there it is
 
back home after Nam
choppers chopping
rescue missions
organ transplant transports
tracking cop pursuits
night or day
 
they’d ask
how do you know
oh, there it is
I knew because
I could feel
those whirling blades
beating in my heart
chop chop chopping
chop chop chop
 

by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



Three Barbers
             (Nam 1966)

clipped trimmed
ears and neck
warm lather shaved
face scalp massaged
hot towel
forehead and eyes
low cost
twice a week
 
December 1966
three barbers
37 comrades
sneak through wire
scurry drainage ditches
satchel charges
automatic rifle fire
inferno midnight
 
three days
they lasted
to the last man
 
58 years later
I
shave myself

 

by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



Saigon Orphan Charley
 
of course we called him Charley
like a Victor Charley call sign
he wasn’t just another
twelve-year-old skinny beggar
no he was our eyes and ears
that neighborhood where we
watched guarded and waited
 
we were G.I. Number one
our C-Rations and cigarettes
keeping him happy
he somehow kept fairly clean
hair always neatly trimmed
stomping out cigarettes
barefooted
guess he might have spied
best benefactor
 
we dressed him up one day
PX bought shirt shorts shoes
he was the class of the orphans
and next day he appeared
barefoot shirtless old shorts
why
where are your new clothes
 
I sell them
make good money
he laughed
and ran away


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  






A Very Loud Silence
 
the noise of war
cannot be hushed
cannot be tamed
lingers with survivor’s guilt
unseen like visions
letters or pictures

noise of war
unlike white noise
lingers relentlessly silent
distracting serenity moments
tranquility dreams
interrupts conversation
noise of war
a special soulful melody
rejecting any harmony
never allowing an amen
and a handful of soil
is tossed unheard
down onto a sacred casket
taps and three volleys
salute in silence
flapping flags
​in an inaudible wind


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



An Airshow in Nam '67
 
Mekong Delta stagnant hot
humid blue sky heat waves
the lone A1E Skyraider
propeller driven fighter bomber
loops rolls climbs and dives
 
a soccer field in middle
mighty Tan Son Nhut airbase
boy scouts watch from stands
dream aspire someday to solo fly
and observe an incomplete loop
 
on the dirt road across the field
flames dust smoke explode
clouds of debris and body parts
small entrepreneurial shops
dreams incinerated
 
the scouts cheered and applauded
 
these decades later I ponder
Icarus
too close to the sun
Captain Nguyen
too close to the earth
 
a long stillness
speaks in this poem


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



Old Veteran on a Gurney
 
I desire
warm cold water
falling rushing
night day
clear vision
storm or calm
I need
books on shelves
paintings on walls
clean satin sheets
feather pillows
windows with a vista
I dream and dream
see your face
try to remember
your name


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in Poetry Festival, 2025  



No Place to Hide
(Nam 1966-2025)
 
beneath the covers
out in the forest
church pew or gala
on a park bench
feeding pigeons
laughing cheering
stadium excitement
looking over a vista
humming a song
shedding tears
always comes a stare
heavenly spaces
life taken
life saved
always comes a stare
cycle cycle cycle
place of war
coming home
that then
this now
that then
this now



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  




Out of the Valley

fresh out of the plane 
boots on hot humid ground
assigned a Quonset hut space 
 
on a bunk opposite
the white haired 
twenty two year old
 
hands clasped
far away stare
mumbling 
 
to every season
mumble mumble mumble
a reason
 
Ia Drang Valley
Gary Owen
Ia Drang Ia Drang
 
said he was
on his way home
Ia Drang mumble mumble 
 
into the valley
we flew
mumble babble mumble
 
soul I met
my first casualty
of war

​
by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  
​
​



Whose Hearts—Whose Minds

ours or theirs
yours or mine
 
mask of God
mask of Satan
 
their angels
life and death
 
in loveliness
in loneliness
 
passions
meditations
 
depth and length
night and dawn
 
give us swords
give us olive branches 
 
damnation
forgiveness
 
valleys of death
mountains of love
 
hearts and minds
laying down to sleep
 
our souls to take



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  
 
 

About Things Unintentional 
 
sun not quite risen
I drive to the chartered boat
envisioning deep angling joy
between the swells
 
drifting beneath wisps of clouds
between gentle white capped waves
fantasizing fighting fish
tasting delectable filets
 
waiting for certain pleasure
my thoughts drift to Viet Nam
a place and time
something specific
 
after hours of catching
conversing and inhaling
salty fresh sea air
we motor back to dock
 
relaxed and cleansed
I turn out the lights
slip beneath my blankets 
recollecting blessings
 
sleep comes slowly
as I drift again
to Viet Nam



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  
 
 
 
Was It Really Over
 

the soldiers came home
1973
Saigon fell
1975
 
a loud stillness
circled the globe
not a great joy
a numbing
of hearts and minds
a purgatory kind of vision
memorials remembrances
how can that be
how could it have been
how will it be
next time around



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  

 
 
Boots on the Ground
 
cradles to city streets
rural roads
soils of destiny
skies of fate
 
boots on the ground
 
each one
every body
becoming 
being
 
boots on the ground
 
like anchors finding an ocean’s floor
rockets sending explosive signals
our imaginations ran wild 
beyond the deepest black holes
seeking holy ghosts with open arms
for some body
and everyone
some time
sooner or later
we all became 
 
boots on the ground



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2025 
VWP 2025     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



My Comrade in Arms

(for Rodney and Richard—Johnson)
 
from a schooling
comrades were Russian commies
from an education
comrades were soldiers
 
basic training during Nam 
we were bunk mates 
no dna brotherhood
and the band yet to play
 
bonds of 
practicing weaponry
bonds of 
weekend brothel boozing
 
time of danger
brewing on a far horizon
time of reality
mortality at hand
 
flesh and blood
torn and flowing
 
I remember your face
those times from pictures
 
those times of pride
friendship and toasting
roasting in jokes
laughing arm in arm
 
decades later
I finger touch
your name 
on a granite wall



by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2023 
VWP 2023     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  

​

Polished Granite for Viet Nam 

share and exchange
near the reflecting pool
 
good morning rise
twilight gentle fall
 
sky clouds drift
maybe a spatter of rain
 
names etched in formation
pieces orchestrated into puzzle 
 
light mirrored in darkness
reflection all ours
 
rise up
still standing
 
a good mourning
next beginning


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2023 
VWP 2023     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  



Last One Standing 

what did we learn
how did we share
 
sweat flowing
voices loud
dance floor shaking
 
political
applause and protest
history in rear view mirror
 
late night smoke filled
hops and barley pubs
deep thoughts exchanged
 
poor money times
harmonizing harbor views
guitar case filling with coins
 
battlefields behind
ancestral passings
children out the door
 
crossing our Rubicon
crossing over Jordan
 
what did we learn
how did we share


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2023 
VWP 2023     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  

​

At the Viet Nam Memorial 

In the reality
I was there
To find your way here.
 
In a wish dream
You are there
To find my way here.
 
In history
We are together
Having found our way.
 
Now in this twilight
Of our final embrace
Forgive me all my sins.
 
I will pray for us
From a great fire of grace--
Then sing this benediction.
 
To heaven's great love
Throw all our ashes
In a high fast wind.

by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2023 
VWP 2023     First published numerous anthologies and his books,
​most recently in “Watching Angels Dance by Candlelight” (Loose Moose Publishing, 2019).




Nocturnal Recollections 

(for fellow Nam travelers)
 
in panoramic dreams
silhouettes dance and parade
moonlit flare bright
ridge lines or elephant grass
red green tracer lines
laser above a quaking ground
lava flows though our windows
familiar ghosts bring salt
pour into our wounds
taunting us to laughter
awaken one more time
lathered in sweat


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2022 
VWP 2022     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  

​

Talking to Comrades 

what happened
was what happened
 
what could not be
could not be
 
our plans were then
not this now reality
 
I cannot etch 
your name from this wall
 
you were etched back then
this now deep memory


by Contributing Poet  Richard Eric Johnson   Copyright © 2022 
VWP 2022     First published in VietnamWarPoetry.com  
Bio:  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.
 

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