Most people simply know him as “the poetry man.”

There’s a reason for that.

Not a day goes by that Johnny Callahan goes without reciting a poem — even if it’s to someone he’s never even met.

With 80 poems memorized, Callahan seems to have one for every occasion. Even a simple “good-bye” can prompt Callahan to get into character and recite a fitting piece of poetry.

Callahan wasn’t always the poetry genius he is today. As a child, Callahan said he had a hard time with memorization. That all changed in 1981, when he was hospitalized for nearly three months.

During that time, Callahan’s minister, the Rev. Della Matt, brought Callahan a booklet of poems.

“She wrote in there (the booklet) she hoped I would find something,” he said, sitting in a chair at his home church, Crane Chapel.

And find something he did.

“I memorized one or two before I got out of the hospital,” he said. “It’s just grown from there.”

Since that time, Callahan has taken a liking to two poets in particular: Helen Steiner Rice and Mary Merill, both poets who write with a spiritual emphasis.

There’s no real rhyme or reason to the method Callahan chooses poems to recite. He simply relies on whether or not he feels moved to do so. Depending on the difficulty of the poem, it can take him anywhere from three days to weeks to get one poem down pat.

After nearly 30 years of practice, his repertoire of 80 poems has seemed to fit his circumstances just fine.

Over the years, he’s spent time visiting nursing homes, funerals and churches, where he’s shared his memorized words of wisdom. Often, his poems offer advice or words of comfort relating to the troubles of everyday life.

“My heart can’t even tell you how much I’ve enjoyed doing them,” he said, looking back on his years of sharing poetry.

In recent months, Callahan has dealt with some medical complications, including a blood infection that has played a role in his difficulty in breathing. That has made reciting some longer poems a bit more difficult, but it hasn’t stopped him all together.

Callahan can’t imagine now what his life would have been like without his poetry.

Not only have they provided comfort for him, but they’ve also had the power to touch others. In one case, Callahan recalls how he tracked down a poem a man at a nursing home had requested him to recite. In that situation, the man was able to hear the poem one last time before passing on.

It’s memories like those that keep Callahan going.

For Callahan’s 83rd birthday, he’s hosting a poetry celebration at his church, Crane Chapel. Really, it’s a celebration of his life, of poetry and the blessings it has provided him and others along the way.