About Us

KDS: This is the joint effort of two old friends who really ought to have know better. Still, since we don’t…

This site is about juxtaposition, poems set against poems, poets set against poets. Not in conflict, not to strive, but to drive and develop synergy, to push each other, to inspire (hopefully), to compare and to contrast, to speak, to listen. What this is at any given moment compared to what we intended it to be or thought it might be or become, well, an intention gets one started, but it is not our intent to force the journey to conform to our expectations, but to accept the journey and to listen to where it wants to take us at each step.

DKJ: Ken and I met at the pictured location in north Seattle, which was then a bus stop. This momentous event occurred late in the 1980s, between thirty and forty years ago.

At that time, I learned three thing about Ken: (1) He was from Michigan, a midwestern state, like my native Nebraska. (2) He was working as a lawyer’s assistant – as was I. (3) He was (and is) a poet. Regarding that last item on the bill of indictment, Your Honor, I am guilty as charged.

So began the friendship you will find expressed in these Pages and Posts. It has been continued through years of toiling in law offices, grumbling all the way, Ken’s break out to database work, my twisting and wriggling to break out to do anything else, with limited success, the birth of our offspring, with my offspring babysitting his offspring, Ken’s relocation and ultimate expatriation of his family to the United Kingdom, the two of us taking full advantage of the blessing that is email, my retirement from working in law offices, global pandemic, the accelerating expansion of the universe, and the vain pursuit of a single theory harmonizing Quantum Mechanics with Einsteinian Gravitation.

Ken and I have agreed to leave that last item to the big boys. Mama don’t allow no Quantum Mechanics ’round here.

So, adopting and incorporating Ken’s description above, speaking on behalf of the committee, we hope someone likes what we post here, if only us.

Biographies of the Perpetrators

David Keith Johnson: Spawned in Omaha, patched and peeled in New York City, wrangled in Seattle, I now reside in Edmonds, Washington, just north of the big town. Between time spent working at a blizzard of jobs over fifty years, I made a lot of stuff — prose, poetry, music. Or rather, all the stuff was the consequence of me intersecting with my life.

Back in 1986, I faced a choice after crashing and burning in New York City. I could either (1) attempt the sleight of hand of trying to sell and make stuff while still holding down gainful employment, or (2) I could spend every spare moment making stuff. I chose to make stuff, and now in retirement keep myself busy warehousing it at Louder Than a Lie, Publishing, LLC, which is more of an archive than a publishing company.

My friend Ken is in London, my daughter Joanna is in Spain, my heart was not left in San Francisco but is safely kept it in the hands of my partner and spouse, multi-disciplinary artist extraordinaire Nan Burling. A cat named Smokey rules the roost, and I would love to talk some more, but he has notified me that it is time to feed him (again.)

Kenneth Durham Smith: I was born and raised in Michigan, growing up mostly in the thumb of Michigan, on Lake Huron. The experience of growing up near such a large body of water has scarred my poetry for life. I eventually found my way to Justin Morrill College at Michigan State University, where I thrived, after a fashion. I met my wife to be at MSU, and we ended up moving to Seattle, for reasons that are still little understood. I admit I was a little suspicious of David at first, as he introduced himself as having just moved to Seattle from New York City, and my small town roots were still strong. However, when he said he grew up in Nebraska I immediately accepted him as the spiritual and artistic brother that he was and has always remained. By the way, I love NYC, a truly great city.

Moving to London was a bit of a whim, my wife wanted to do a Master’s degree. It took a year, as promised, and we never went back. That was 20 years ago. My son was born here, my daughter had her accent twisted here. I have wandered around poetry with a wayward sense of purpose for some time and have recently elevated it to the top of my list of things to do. But I also train in Aikido (shodan) and still get out for some Morris dancing from time to time.