March 14, 2005                                                 

Dear Campus Watch,

I have recently read the diatribe on the poet and activist Ammiel Alcalay, published in the American Thinker on March 4.

I am not writing this letter to argue politics with you, for that would be silly, wouldn't it? I am writing, rather, to ask that you add me to the list of American poets you are putting under surveillance. Allow me to briefly list some of my credentials, as I think you may agree I deserve to be given a file in the archives of your organization.

I was one of the poets published in Sam Hammill's Poets Against the War anthology. My poem, which was widely distributed before its anthology publication, including by the venerable Marxist journal Monthly Review, is titled “Baghdad,” and it is loosely based on the children's classic Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown.

Days went by. The peony I am thinking of pushed out its head from who knows what, and the dark and tight-bodied ants, so swollen from sucking on the fat, come-covered bud, died inside the unfolding flower, mysteriously, like people do. Goodnight nobody.

Well, anyway… Then, the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison happened, and I published a poem titled "Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz, Or: Get the Hood Back On." This poem may be of particular interest to you, since (in addition to the fact that it is accompanied by photographs and the music of Dean Martin) Ammiel Alcalay himself saw fit to send it abroad for possible translation into Arabic, Hebrew, and Bosnian. I don't know if it has been translated yet, but the English version is available here, where it has received thousands of visits since its appearance:  http://www.blazevox.org/kent.htm

Further, this poem is now the title poem of a collection of mine that is soon to appear. This book will contain numerous pieces by me (not everyone would judge it poetry!), all of which have some relation to the war in Iraq. The cover of this book will be, I think, somewhat original: The infamous shot of the American soldier holding the leash which is clipped to the neck of the prone prisoner shall be surrounded by pictures of daffodils among which shall be little Cupids shooting their arrows inward, toward the picture.

But the most important thing I wanted to say about the forthcoming book is this: I intend (my god, how I am completely talking about myself! What is wrong with me?)  to announce in the book that all author royalties from the sale of the collection are to be donated to Campus Watch. I wish to do this (and I hope you will accept the gesture) because I strongly believe your proto-fascist activities are an excellent stimulant to the defense of American values, like civil liberties and other stuff.

Also, I should tell you that I correspond with Joseph Safdie, one of the "leftist" poets mentioned in the American Thinker article! He and I almost co-edited a book of recipes and favorite dinner anecdotes by poets. Alas, this book idea fell through, though I now can't quite remember why. But someone else should certainly do it, as it is a wonderful idea. Oh, and I should also say that in the 1980's I worked as a literacy teacher in Nicaragua on two different occasions. This was when the Sandinista's were in power. Though I'm more or less a social democrat now, I was really radical back then. From our village, we could hear the Contra mortars going off almost every night, funded by CIA cocaine money. Some of my friends died.

Then I came back and got active again in the Milwaukee Central America Solidarity Coalition, which I’d co-founded in 1979 with Steve Watrous and a couple of Catholic priests whose names I can’t now recall. The organization became very large and went on to do all sorts of protest activities. One event we organized was called "Who's Watching You in 1984?" and hundreds of people attended, including numerous FBI agents, with wires coming out of their ears. Not to get too sentimental, but it was at this event that I met my future wife, for she was Master of Ceremonies for this anti-American gathering. Thank you to your ancestors for that. My rat-haired, pot-smoking sons are very pissed-off and brave. I am proud of them, even though I wish they wouldn’t smoke so much pot. O, I hope they are not murdered by a Pentagon-sponsored death-squad someday!

Forgive me for being a bit disorganized in my thinking and for using the come-sap of ideology like the ants do. Still, I believe these would be some reasons you should wish to accept my request for induction into your files. I know there are filaments shooting out of my eyes and into yours and I know that they go down into my bowels and back into yours. I will be sure to send you a copy of the forthcoming book, which, again, shall go to support the activities of your organization.

Sincerely,
Kent Johnson

I dreamt us having a pure father and son moment