Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s segment features Josh Price.
Price was born on the banks of the Rock River which he calls muddy water blood, native limestone bones, prairie soil flesh. He said he was raised on its shores. There he explained he came of age with the beats and learned the power of the written, and spoken, word.
“Since river towns are winged towns, took off and flew West as a young man, to grow up with the country,” he said.
Price said he witnessed the splendor of the world again and again.
“They say you can never go home again...yet, here I am.”
Here’s his poem “Black Roses.”
The rose of summer
hangs her head.
Gaze fixed and distant,
no longer vibrant.
Something vital is lacking.
See the garden decay?
Petals peel away,
falling,
one by one,
into her lap.
Autumn winds blow them
swirling around.
Soon the snow will lay
deep upon the ground.
But she will always come again
In Spring.
Sending forth leaves of green.
A bud that swells and blooms.
Revealing a pink and tender face,
redolent with intoxicating fragrance.
Following the steps of the sun...
Counting the days
one by one
Until summer is spent and done.
And autumn winds
come swirling around
again.
- 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.
