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PHANTOM
I remember that Saturday afternoon of my senior year
After the breach of the sound barrier by the Phantom,
The sky silent but for soaring birds chatting overhead
A white trail from America’s finest crossing the sky
Its sleekness silently slicing through the atmosphere
Its ultimate destination the tangled skies of Vietnam
That Jet taking with it the wonderment of my youth.
I haven’t been around much
I haven’t been around much lately because I am focused on taking care of my disabled son, my number one priority, but it was wonderful to read your beautifully crafted work again.
I was impressed by the stirring sense of time and place, the upheaval, the apprehension and the excitement of the decade that you captured so intensely in this superior commentary.
Your focus on what was both a symbol of American pride and possible doom was startling and shrewd: At first I was picturing the dewy eyed masses celebrating the triumph of technology and then I was plummeted to the reality of the “police action” and young men, like you, robbed of something precious and irreplaceable.
Excellent work. Feeling it.
Thank you
Thank you so much for your insight and understanding.