Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This poem was written by Billy Clem.
Clem lives in Sycamore and teaches English at Waubonsee Community College.
Here’s his poem “The Doe.”
THE DOE
This wide-open meadow and its short grasses,
the mild winter’s crew cut, don’t scare you.
Nor do the monarchs or viceroys and their slow,
twin-labored flappings, or the nearly-icy air
that can parch any mouth. Clear and targeted,
your global scrutiny opens the parts of alarm
that count, the substance of single movements
that agree in legs to halt or move without a stammer.
You don’t need an advocate so that you can stand here
and chew baby greens, last autumn’s leaves and twigs,
with a nonchalance so furious you undo the preserve.
You take the field. You call in your daughters to roam.
This poem aired March 14, 2025.
