Jessica E. Johnson

Jessica E. Johnson writes poetry, nonfiction, and things in between. Her poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in The Paris Review, River Teeth,  Poetry Northwest, Tin House, DIAGRAM, Four Way Review, The New Republic, Sixth Finch, and Dream Pop, among others. She is an Oregon Literary Fellowship recipient and an Oregon Book Award Finalist for her chapbook In Absolutes We Seek Each Other (New Michigan Press). She teaches composition, creative writing, and environmental literature at PCC. Metabolics (Acre Books), a book-length poem, is an essential study in the ecologies of contemporary parenting, with adults and children affected by screen time and “feeds” as their bodies metabolize food, the environment, and Excess Feelings, including rage. Johnson employs scientific idiom to construct an allegory about a family in the Pacific Northwest. From climate change to kombucha to smart phones to curated produce, the smallest details of daily life in “Plasticland” catalyze a larger examination of selfhood. Metabolics is her debut full-length collection.