Angela Jackson (born July 25, 1951) is an American poet, playwright, and novelist based in Chicago, Illinois. Jackson became the Illinois Poet Laureate in 2020.
POET
Angela Jackson
On my way to Chemistry
I was ambushed by a gang
of poems.
They roughed me up.
Blackened my eyes.
Made my lips
Bleed.
One, in the distance,
always out of reach
to help or save,
seduced me
with promises.
I was on my way
to a life
of ease
when I was waylaid
by myself.
In the fray
I beat them all.
They did not lift me up.
I lifted up these poems.
I lifted up these poems.