Devin Johnston

GenresPoetry, book reviewSubjectModernism, pastoral traditions, ecology, contemporary American and British poetry, prosody

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Literature portal

Devin Johnston (born 14 March 1970) is an American poet. He has authored several poetry collections Far-Fetched (2015), Sources (2008), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, Aversions (2004), Mosses and Lichens (2019) and Telepathy (2001). His literary criticism and prose writing includes Precipitations: Contemporary American Poetry as Occult Practice (2002) and Creaturely and Other Essays (2009).

Born in Canton, New York and was raised in Winston-Salem, Johnston was trained and raised in North Carolina, US. He worked as the poetry editor for Chicago Review (1995–2000), and as an editor of "Flood Editions", a non-profit publishing house. As a lecturer, he teaches in Saint Louis University, Missouri.^[1]

Styles

Most of Johnston's works are poetry and literary criticism. He was considered a lyrical poet having stated being influenced by W. B. Yeats. According to the Poetry Foundation, "Johnston whittles the lines of his poems, compressing imagery that is at once allusive and immediate." He has also observed poet Forrest Gander in one of his poems, Telepathy.

Influence and legacy

Awards

Johnston was awarded the Friends of Literature prize by the Poetry Foundation for his poems New Song and A Close Shave.^[2]

Works

Poetry^[3][4]

• ——— (2001). Telepathy (poetry). London: Paper Bark Press. ISBN 978-1-877004-86-5.
• ——— (2011). Traveler: Poems (poetry). United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374279332.
• ——— (2015). Far-Fetched: Poems (poetry). London: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374714086
• ——— (2019). Mosses and Lichens: Poems (poetry). United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374719883.
• ——— (2023). Dragons: Poems (poetry). United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 9780374607302.
• ——— (2008). Sources (poetry). New York City: Turtle Point Press. ISBN 9781933527161.
• ——— (2004). Aversions (poem). Chicago: Omnidawn. ISBN 9781890650162.
• ——— (2009). Creaturely and Other Essays (literary criticism). Brooklyn, New York: Turtle Point Press. ISBN 9781933527222.
• ——— (2002). Precipitations: Contemporary American Poetry as Occult Practice (literary criticism). London: Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 9780819565624.

References