"The Beginning and The End"
By Neville Johnson
As the morning sun shone through the trees, I noticed tiny specks of dust swirling in the air like snowflakes. It was a cold winter morning, and the dust seemed to settle on every surface, covering our broken minds and battered souls.
The once vibrant and bustling city now appeared like a blur of grimy walls and barren roads, devoid of any life or energy and unrecognizable.
Memories of those summer-baked months were now a distant dream, and the reality was a dusty and monotonous existence with no escape in sight.
The dust had settled so deeply that it seemed to have become a part of everything, clinging onto every inch of space, every corner, every crevice, as if trying to smother us.
We were left to struggle through each day in this lifeless world, where the dust had taken over.
The world seemed to have come to a standstill, trapped in an endless cycle of dust, death, and decay.
Neville Johnson is a UK veteran of Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland. Follow him here. Listen to the Savage Wonder podcast episode with him here.
Sangin, Then and Now by Neville Johnson.
Sweeping Leaves in the Wind, Good Soldiers Don’t Cry, and Alone in a Crowded Room by the Veterans Collective, featuring selections from Neville Johnson.
In Love…&War: The Anthology of Poet Warriors by Dead Reckoning Collective, featuring selections from Neville Johnson.
What’s happening at VetRep…
Listen to our latest episode with Mitchel Coffman on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.
The parlor is back! Our first show of the season titled “Dunkirk…and Other Surprises” is a feature of seven veteran authored 10-minute plays. Join us for an evening of both drama and comedies, accompanied by dessert and a refreshing mocktail! Seating is limited and shows sell out fast, so get your tickets now and make sure you have a front-row seat with us on April 6th. Get your tickets here.