Book Review: "Count Me the Stars" and "A Once Courageous Heart" by Kylie Johnson

Kylie Johnson is a deceptively simple poet. Her words are generally small, loose on the page like scattered glitter, and sketch powerfully simple pictures. They pierce straight through to the emotions they address.

The collections discussed here are so similar that one wonders why they are not the same book. They could have been written in the same time frame with the same impetus behind them. This gives them the potential to be annoying. But the presentation of them and the style creates a kind of forgetfulness in the reader regarding that glaring sameness. The two books can be read together back-to-back in an hour and a half. As a result one can tend to overlook the profundity of the words themselves.

The physical aspects of the books are as important to the poetry as the words are. Some of these poems are most definitely concrete poetry. Some are only one or two lines to a page. The placement of the words on the page are integral to understanding the multiple meanings which can be gleaned.

This is not difficult poetry by any means. It requires no study, no meditation. In short, it is pleasant, light reading- akin to holiday books for poets. However, this gives it the distinct advantage of being easily accessible to a public that has grown accustomed to more mind-numbing entertainment. Johnson has perhaps discovered how to keep poetry very much an every day living force to even those people for whom reading is not considered restful.

Available at Anthropologie, these precious books are refreshing and memorable. Certainly, they are well worth an hour and a half of a day.