Robert K. Johnson Verse-Virtual 2018 June

June 2018

Born in New York City (in Elmhurst), I lived in several different places there but have memories only of The Bronx (off Fordham Road). Then my family moved out "on The Island"—to Lynbrook, where we stayed till I graduated from Hofstra (then a College). Several years after my wife, Pat, and I married, we, plus our two children, settled in the Boston area and have remained there (except for my daughter, Kate, who has lived in Manhattan for quite a while). I have been writing poetry since I was twelve (many moons ago).

Huck Finn In 1950
       (Lighting out)

Within hours
after Graduation Day morning,
free from high school,
my two best friends and I agreed:

                                 we would drive
three thousand miles west,
then up the Pacific Coast
to Alaska
         on the Alcan Highway,

a Highway rugged, primitive,
a Highway along side
endless acres of land
unspoiled by office buildings
or college classrooms,
a Highway populated
only by untamed animals,
yet stirring no fear
in us
        and dulling
what we did fear.

previously published in CHIRON REVIEW

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