Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems written by northern Illinois poets. This week’s segment features Michael Lee Johnson.
Johnson lives in Itasca, Illinois but is also a citizen of Canada. He lived there for 10 years during the Vietnam War. His works are published in many small press magazines across 40 countries. He was nominated for twoPushcart Prize awards and five Best of The Net awards. Many of his poems can be heard on hisYouTubepage. Today he explores the darker side of life with his poem “Poetry Man.”
I’m the poetry man, understand?
Dance, dance, dance to the crystals of night,
healing crystals detox nightmares, night tremors.
Death still comes in the shadow of grief,
hides beneath this blanket of time,
in the heat, in the cold.
Hold my hand on this journey
you won’t be the first, but
you may be the last.
You and I so many avenues,
ventures & turns, so many years together
one bad incident, violence, unexpected,
one punch, all lights dim out.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.