Dear Campus Watch,

I have recently read the diatribe on the poet and activist Ammiel Alcalay,
published in the American Thinker on March 4.

I am not writing this letter to argue politics with you, for that would be
silly, wouldn't it? I am writing, rather, to ask that you add me to
the list of American poets you are putting under surveillance. Allow me to
briefly list some of my credentials, as I think you will agree I
deserve to be given a file in the archives of your organization.

I was one of the poets published in Sam Hammill's Poets Against the War
anthology. My poem, which was widely distributed before its anthology
publication, including by the openly Marxist journal Monthly Review, is
titled Baghdad, and it is loosely based on the children's book Goodnight
Moon.

Days went by... Then, the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison happened, and
I published a poem titled "Lyric Poetry After Auschwitz,
Or: Get the Hood Back On." This poem may be of particular interest to you,
since (in addition to the fact that it is accompanied by
photographs and the music of Dean Martin) Ammiel Alcalay himself saw fit to
send it abroad for possible translation into Arabic. I don't know if it has
been translated yet, but the English version is available here, where it has
received thousands of visits since its appearance :
http://www.blazevox.org/kent.htm

Further, this poem is now the title poem of a collection of mine that is
soon to appear. This book will contain numerous pieces by me (not
everyone would judge it poetry!), all of which have some relation to the war
in Iraq. The cover of this book will be, I think, somewhat original: The
infamous shot of the American soldier holding the leash which is clipped to
the neck of the prone prisoner shall be surrounded by pictures of daffodils
among which shall be little Cupids shooting their arrows inward, toward the
picture.

But the most important thing I wanted to say about the forthcoming book is
this: I intend to announce in the book that all author royalties from the
sale of the collection are to be donated to Campus Watch. I wish to do this
(and I hope you will accept the gesture) because I strongly believe your
proto-fascist activities are an excellent stimulant to the defense of
American values, like civil liberties and other stuff.

Also, I should tell you that I correspond with Joseph Safdie, one of the
"leftist" poets mentioned in the American Thinker article! He and I
almost co-edited a book of recipes and favorite dinner anecdotes by poets.
Alas, this book idea fell through, though I now can't quite
remember why. But someone else should certainly do it, as it is a wonderful
idea. Oh, and I should also say that in the 1980's I worked as
a literacy teacher in Nicaragua on two different occasions. This was when
the Sandinista's were in power. Though I'm more or less a social
democrat now, I was *really* radical back then. From our village, we could
hear the Contra mortars going off almost every night. Some of my friends
died. Then I came back and founded the Milwaukee Central America Solidarity
chapter, which went on to do all sorts of protest activities. One event we
organized was called "Who's Watching You in 1984?" and hundreds of people
attended, including numerous FBI agents. Not to get too sentimental, but it
was at this event that I met my future wife.

So, these would be some reasons you might wish to accept my request to be
inducted into your files. I will be sure to send you a copy of the
forthcoming book, which, again, shall go to support the activities of your
organization.

Sincerely,

Kent Johnson



Kent Johnson is on the Board of Directors of BlazeVOX [books] and currently
this year's _Mobilis in Mobili_ Poetry Prize. www.blazevox.org/prize.htm