Doug Johnson Presents Cracked Pots
Born in Denver Colorado, Doug Johnson is a writer, musician, and artist. Doug also creates hand made greeting cards entitled, “Mandala Magic,” and hopes to continue illustrating other projects. Indeed, a former graphic artist, he still designs books, CD jackets, and book covers, but he most enjoys collaborating with artists and authors. In 1998, in collaboration with Dan Peters of Blue Begonia Press, Doug won “Best Letterpress Design” at the Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle for his first book design.
Doug's latest book of poetry and prose, “Black Mountain Whispers: A Tribute to Raymond Carver,” came out this year and is available at
www.cavemoonpress.org. Note that Doug is the founder of Cave Moon Press, a non-profit literary press dedicated to underserved populations and literature.
Doug’s poems have appeared in Audience Review and Poesia, and his photos have made the cover of Audience Review and Tipton Review. More of his photography is forthcoming in Whitefish Literary Review. Recently, Hugh Fox mentioned Doug in the following review: Audience is one of those top-star zines like Poetry, The Iowa Review, Waterways, The Aurorean. Top-drawer poets/fictioneers like straightforward, right-to-the-point Pamela Laskin: Eight six year olds/guided by Moses/across the black asphalt; arms like angel wings/cradling their small bodies. . . . ("Gifts," To the Crossing Guard at 138th & Convent Ave., p.33). Or Professor Meditation, Doug Johnson whose every poem is the take-off point for the minimum of an hour of musings and reflections: "Madame, I must confess ignorance./Before flames erupted yesterday in your streets/I argued the Koran as a novice. Today, worries/replace strong Moroccan teas I have never tasted." ("Islamabad Burning," An Elegy for Benazir Bhutto, p. 103). – Hugh Fox, Small Press Review.
The following illustrations are part of a series entitled, “Cracked Pots,”
generated especially for a book of the same name. Enjoy!
And finally, a photograph.