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Poetically Yours - Ep. 24 - Itasca Poet Recollects Visit From Common Insect

Provided by Michael Lee Johnson.

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.
Yvonne covers artistic, cultural, and spiritual expressions in the COVID-19 era. This could include how members of community cultural groups are finding creative and innovative ways to enrich their personal lives through these expressions individually and within the context of their larger communities. Boose is a recent graduate of the Illinois Media School and returns to journalism after a career in the corporate world.