What I appreciate about John Korn is 1), his bassy melodic reading voice, and 2) the relatability and subtle humility of his poems. Here's a video of him reading at Coffee Buddha's Open Mic. In his better works, I don't feel like John is trying to make a point; I do feel like he's making a poetic effort. The way he reads his poems it's not John trying to make a living off of poetry or make poetry his thing it's him delivering a lyricism, and you can get that; there's a connection to his work that comes through and isn't obscured by "persona."
John has one book out, possibly another one forthcoming. The one out is Television Farm, which I purchased on Amazon for $15. The cover is a television farm, hand-drawn complete with a fugly television farmer on the back, and there is a poem about this farm in the beginning-middle of the book. The book itself is separated into sections, the first being somewhat overtly political commentary in the style of (for lack of a better referent) an associative Bukowski,
They feed us poison food-from "Voting camp" [sic]
it bubbles up in the belly, Mother.
it is loaded with nausea
my intestines feel like an eel.
they make us watch television
they make us vote.
There's a postured seriousness here which fades away when we get into the romantic temperament of Mr. Korn. Mr. Korn writes about women's bodies and women and his own feeling about women, in a way I have to find appealing. His speakers aren't arranged to look good, but it's not a process of constant self-deprecation either, at most there's a kind of timid frustration and wisdom that comes with living in mystery... and its that sentiment which makes his relatively simple (although occasionally stylish) prose-y poems stand out.
Standout poems which I've seen mentioned elsewhere online are:"I took some down with miss handsome", which explores I think most successfully John's surrealistic tendencies, this kind of based in that poor/jazzy stuff, celebrating poverty conditions etc. but it's surreal enough to escape that brand of innocence.
on ginger street I found fat Misses Handsome--from "I took some down with miss handsome"
planted on the curb, sweat like grease. she smelled
like a burrito. she had a wicker basket on her
head with the handle wrapped under her chin
like a helmet strap. she had put dandelions,
pigeon feathers and rat tails in it. what a
pretty and wise look it gave her, as she slugged
down vodka from the bottle, her bracelets jingling
[...]
She said, "Man walks to clear mind
man dreams to foget about body.
on the eighth day God created woman
and he said I will give her a pussy hole,
and adam said what's that
and God waved his wand and said
behold look at that sweet lovin' pussy hole, son, goddam!
[...]
and God said that's some sweet funky stuff
move over, adam, I can't control myself
I made a mistake with this pussy hole, I think
and adam was left to masturbate.
he killed himself three days later."
It's playful, most of John's poems are, but there's a resolve to it, riding the rails between lyrical seriousness and sarcasm. Television Farm as a whole mostly stays balanced, on an edge, and some of the more literal more realistic poems have a sharpness that has nothing to do with whimsy.
I made the effort of meeting John and talking to him (overcoming my social fears) because I liked his reading so much. He is reading again at Hemingway's for the final Summer Poetry Series event of the season, on July 28th. I recommend seeing him, and if you're a person inclined to buy poetry, email me about it, because I'd like to understand that there are people out there who do that, and if you liked any of John's work in the article you should consider buying & reading his book.-- poetryburgh@gmail.com
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