Erica Johnson

I decided to partake
popping over to a protest
and demonstrating democracy
I was not prepared for
a capital crisis on the capitol
where the lines are drawn
not unlike the lines we drew
in permanent marker on poster
which warbles with movement
and the din of voices
ebbing, flowing, weaving
around and into the streets
arms linked or outstretched
and stomping feet standing
or sitting stamping
and always
call and response
call and response
TAKE ACTION and
chanting, chanting, chanting
color bleeds across concrete
leading up to steps
United We Stand!

Erica Johnson has spent her entire life navigating the different spaces of central Arkansas: from graduating out of the crowded halls of Mills University Studies High School to teaching in the much more rural Vilonia High School. Erica is a regular poet in online spaces such as EthicalELA and Teach Write. She spends her non-writing time taking in various anime and learning new games.

This poem appeared in What We Hold On To: Poems of Coping, Connection, and Carrying On — Winter 2026, published by The Chaos Section Poetry Project.  You can read the full collection or download a free PDF of the chapbook here.