Welcome to WNIJ's Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This segment features Michael Lee Johnson.
Johnson lives in Itasca, Illinois but is also a citizen of Canada. He lived there for 10 years during Vietnam. 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 shares his poem “Heaven Is My Horse Fly.”
A common horse fly
travels in my world,
in my bathroom,
it is summertime
lands on my toilet seat
dines at Nikki's
kitty litter box refuels.
Twenty-three times
round trip
buzzes my skull, skins my head.
He calls them short runs.
Steady pilot, good mileage,
frequent flier credits.
I swat his war journey,
Splat, downed, then, an abrupt end.
- 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.