Ever wonder how a poet’s mind works? With Little Wonder dark for january (we’re resting our tired editing fingers), I took the opportunity to corner and interview rising star of the scene Taylor Johnson. We talked about how they write, what they think poetry is and how they try to achieve what they do. The result was one of the most thoughtful, profound and useful discussions of writing I’ve ever experienced. Perhaps the strongest thing I can say about it is that as a definitely-not-a-poet it made me want to try writing poetry. But don’t take my word for it. You can listen to the whole interview below.
Taylor Johnson is from DC. Their poems appear in The Baffler, Four Way Review, Indiana Review, and Scalawag, among other publications. They’ve received fellowships from Cave Canem, Callaloo, Yaddo, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, and the Vermont Studio Center, among other organizations.
Links for poems:
The Black proletarianization of the bourgeois form isn’t Kanye West’s gospel samples
I hope you enjoyed the interview. You can find out all about Taylor’s work at http://www.taylorjohnsonpoems.com/. A few tickets are still left for the city 27 microtheatre in English (including my utterly ridiculous show Nanas are Forever) – check it out if you’re in Paris https://www.billetreduc.com/228691/evt.htm. There will be a new writing article up on the site soon, and Little Wonder Radio Plays kick off in February with political thriller “The Candidate” and supernatural mystery “No New Messages.” Thanks for listening!
