By Frank Patterson
There are journalists and there are poets. Yvonne Boose is both.
“I believe a writer can write anything,” Boose said.
Boose, of Montgomery, works as a reporter for radio station WNIJ, 89.5, in DeKalb. She is a poet, and she has done much to promote poetry, including publishing two books of her poetry, A Beautiful Rose and Purple Butterflies.
Boose is a wife and a mother. She and her husband, Lemuel, have been married for 15 years. They have a daughter, Nijah, whose name means “a beautiful rose,” said Boose.
For WNIJ, Boose works as an arts and culture reporter. WNIJ is part of Northern Public Radio, the public radio service of Northern Illinois University.
Boose’s beat for WNIJ includes arts, culture, and spiritual expression. During the early days of the pandemic, she reported on churches and how they were coping with the outbreak.
Boose’s interest in poetry fits well within her job description. In fact, she migrated a short segment of poetry into a regular Friday feature at WNIJ. That feature, Poetically Yours, originated from an internet radio show she developed while attending Illinois Media School in Lombard. That school encourages students to produce a radio or television show of their own, Boose said.
Poetically Yours features the work of a different poet every week. The feature is aired twice on Friday, during the programs Here and Now at 12:31 p.m. and All Things Considered at 6:18 p.m..
The name of the feature was derived from a correspondence Boose had with celebrated poet Nikki Giovanni. After Boose sent Giovanni a copy of her book, Purple Butterflies, she received a note of appreciation from Giovanni. Giovanni signed the note “Poetically yours.”
Boose’s interest in poetry began at age 11 when a classroom assignment led her to write a poem about a tree. A fellow student’s comment caused Boose to realize her talent: “One of my classmates told me ‘You didn’t write that. That’s not something you wrote,’ so I took that to mean that it must be good,” Boose said with a smile.
In 2013, Boose co-founded the literary group, A-Town Poetics, with Karen Christensen of Aurora. Christensen is Aurora’s Poet Laureate. A-Town Poetics meets monthly at the West Branch of the Aurora Public Library District.
Boose was graduated from Chicago State University in 1997, where she majored in speech communication with an emphasis on television and radio production.
“After college I started working for what, at the time, was called Ameritech. I started there part-time and six months later I went to full-time,” Boose said. Her employer, she said, “turned into Verizon in 1999.”
In 2009, Boose received her master’s degree from Roosevelt University in Chicago. She left Verizon in March of that year, and two months later, enrolled at Illinois Media School in Lombard to refresh her skills.
She began working part-time as a producer/reporter for WNIJ in November 2019, and went full-time with the assistance of Report for America, a program which helps to place new journalists in positions where they can report on issues that otherwise would not get much coverage.
Boose believes poetry has an important role to play in people’s lives, but it is often underappreciated.
“I know some people aren’t into poetry, or really don’t get it. I want to tell people that poetry can really be healing for the soul,” Boose said.
“It helps them to see, ‘I’m not the only one going through this (situation). I’m not alone.’”
Because April is National Poetry Month, both WNIJ and A-Town Poetics have poetry events:
• At 6:30 p.m., Friday, April 22, Poetically Yours Live will take place at Common Grounds Coffee, Tea, and Smoothies, 2180 Oakland Drive B, in Sycamore. The event will feature poets who have taken part in the Poetically Yours broadcasts on WNIJ. There will be an open mic segment of the event. Boose and Four Poets One Mic will co-host.
• At 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 26, A-Town Poetics will hold a poetry reading at the West Branch of the Aurora Public Library District, 233 S. Constitution Dr., Aurora. Boose will act as emcee for the event.