Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week’s poet is Karen Fullett-Christensen
Fullett-Christensen was born and raised on the north side of Chicago, in the Albany Park and Budlong Woods neighborhoods. She is a 1968 graduate of Mather High School (Chicago), and a 1972 graduate of Northern Illinois University (DeKalb). She briefly attended graduate school at Governors State University. She has resided in several of Chicago’s south and west suburbs, and in Missoula, Montana.
With a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Fullett-Christensen has held a variety of jobs: secretary, bookkeeper, teacher, real estate agent, and urban planner.
Upon retirement in 2012 from the City of Aurora, Fullett-Christensen was recognized as the Kane County Planner of the Year. In January 2020, Fullett-Christensen was named as the City of Aurora’s first Poet Laureate. From 2013 through 2025, she co-hosted A-Town Poetics, a monthly gathering for local writers.
Writing since high school, she has self-published nearly 40 manuscripts. Her poems and creative non-fiction have appeared in a variety of print and online publications and are available at no cost to anyone who requests copies.
In addition to poetry, music is of great importance to Fullett-Christensen. She has been a member of the Fox Valley Festival Chorus for nearly 20 years, a group that features semi-annual local concerts and has performed in New York City, Cleveland, Italy, Canada, and France. Here's her poem "National Emergency."
An arm intended to raise fear
or a gesture from the heart
will all the orders set us back
sending people to their corners
anxiety, concern, despair
could be the way that we respond
we could remember that our strength
lies in our values
I choose to hope that we will rally
when we learn the consequence
of using weapons of destruction
divide and conquer
split our seams
instead, a moment when we see
that healing comes from quiet gestures
stitching fabric
assembling quilts
of peace and unanimity
