During the month of April 2020, Arlington Poet Laureate Emerita Katherine E. Young is posting poems from the forthcoming anthology Written in Arlington, which showcases the poets and poems of Arlington, Virginia.
Neon Rain at Midnight
by Carol Heller Nation
My favorite intersection on rainy nights
is Lee Highway at Spout Run Drive
when blooming Bradford pear trees
glow ghost-like under streetlights
as the road plunges into midnight
And neon lights on the corner pawn shop
splash images of blue and rose guitars
across shimmering wet black pavement
to the rhythmic flash of traffic lights
in bursts of red and green and gold
As the drugstore’s open-all-night sign
beckons in red beyond the parking lot
empty save a solitary police cruiser
and rainbow-colored pothole puddles
pretty as a painting on black velvet
Carol Heller Nation (1938-2009) graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism. She retired after many years of service as a publicist and speech writer at Arlington County Public Works and the Arlington County Manager’s Office. “Neon Rain at Midnight” first appeared in Lee Highway: Beyond Pavement, a collaborative project published by Arlington County Cultural Affairs.
Written in Arlington / Spoken in Arlington is a print and digital collection of the poets and poems of Arlington, VA, edited by Katherine E. Young and published by Paycock Press (forthcoming, fall 2020). It is supported in part by Arlington County through the Arlington Cultural Affairs division of Arlington Economic Development and the Arlington Commission for the Arts. For more information, visit Arlington Arts.
Image: After the Rain mixed media/collage on canvas by Anya Getter (fragment)
Katherine E. Young, Poet 