John W. Leys is an indie-poet who been writing poetry since he was 14 years old, inspired by the words of John Lennon and Bob Dylan. His major poetic influences include Allen Ginsberg, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Erica Jong, Arthur Rimbaud, Sylvia Plath, Taliesin, the Poetic Edda, Catullus, Sappho, Leonard Cohen, George Harrison, John Milton, and Bob Dylan.

John was born on Long Island, New York and raised in Albany, Oregon. He served five years in the U.S. Army as a personnel clerk, received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religious Studies from the University of South Florida in Tampa and studied for his master’s degree in Judaic Studies at the Graduate School of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. He currently lives in Albany, Oregon with his dog, Cosmo.

He has had poetry published in Omnibus, Byronmania, Nicholas Gagnier's All the Lonely People, Avalanches in Poetry: Poetry, Stories, and Art Inspired by Leonard Cohen (Edited by David L. O'Nan), and As the World Burns: Writers and Artists Reflect on a World Gone Mad (edited by Kindra M. Austin, Candice Louisa Daquin, Rachel Finch, and Christine E. Ray).

He has also contributed to a variety of poetry-blogs, including Blood Into Ink, GoDogGo Café, and Free Verse Revolution.

His first collection of poetry, The Darkness of His Dreams, was published in July 2019 by Broken Wing Publishing.

When not writing poetry John is usually playing one of his many ukuleles or reading ancient Hellenistic philosophy for fun.