On Kent Johnson
Kent Johnson has been recognized for his essential anthologies of Latin American, Russian, and Buddhist poets for over a quarter of a century. Equally valuable is his gathering of anti-war responses, Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz. He has also achieved notoriety as a gadfly on the well-upholstered ass of the poetic establishment, starting with his introduction of Araki Yasusada, continuing through his speculation that Kenneth Koch wrote one of Frank O’Hara’s beloved poems, and renewed in his recent Because of Poetry I Have a Really Big House…. All the above is well documented and needs no further testimony from me. See Wikipedia.
He has, as well, two virtues that have received insufficient attention.
The first is his generosity. As an anthologist and an editor, he has brought to attention work by many deserving but insufficiently considered writers. He is not a cheerleader for any coterie, but he is urgent in his search for and attention to writers who deserve a wider audience. Hardly a month goes by without a message from Kent containing a link to the work of a poet previously unknown to me. Unlike most of his contemporaries, he is willing to acknowledge, even cheer, the successes of those who have dismissed or belittled his work.
The second is his impeccable ear. Read, for instance, “From One Hundred Poems from the Chinese.” Echoes from so many sources, augmenting frequencies, ostensibly bitching about insufficient personal rewards — but more fundamentally, questioning the Peter Principle that underlies curatorial commodification. The voices he adopts, both rustic and cosmopolitan, are strange and familiar.
He is our most compelling satirist. If you don’t believe me, just listen to Emily Post-Avant. Not Wikipedia.
