Melissa Fite Johnson reads “I Got Off the Plane and Everyone Was Dead” from Shō No. 4
“Much of this poem’s context is built in. My husband and I were taking our first trip after the pandemic, on New Year’s Eve 2021, and I read aloud to him part of a People article about Betty White, prematurely celebrating her 100th birthday. We got on the plane, and just two hours later, when we landed for our layover, I learned that not only had Betty White died, but also this guy I went to high school with. The title popped into my head, and I wrote the poem on the second flight before we landed at our destination. I revised it a little, but not as much as I usually do; this one arrived nearly fully-formed.”
— Melissa Fite Johnson
Melissa Fite Johnson is the author of three full-length collections, most recently Midlife Abecedarian (Riot in Your Throat, 2024). Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, HAD, Whale Road Review, SWWIM, and elsewhere. Melissa teaches high school English in Lawrence, KS, where she and her husband live with their dogs.