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Writing has always been a creative outlet for an area poet who is also an author.

In 2023, Quinn Carver Johnson released a first book, and is now working to spread many voices through poetry. Johnson will be the featured artist at this month’s Poetry Open Mic at Tahlequah Creates, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15.

“I used to draw comics and write stories just for myself as a kid. I used to ‘book’ my own wrestling promotions with my wrestling action figures,” Johnson said. “I had this three-ring binder filled with notebook paper and I would wright down who fought who each week, if a title was on the line, and who won.”

Writing became more serious for Johnson in high school.

“I started with some really terrible fiction, but I discovered spoken word and slam poetry on YouTube, and fell in love with poetry immediately,” Johnson said. “Hearing it spoken added so much intensity and immediacy. It made poetry not alone accessible, but captivating.”

Wrestling still provides an inspiration for Johnson, as seen in the book, “The Perfect Bastard.” Johnson describes it as a “novel in verse,” which is a long-form narrative story, told through poetry.

“My book, ‘The Perfect Bastard’ tells one overarching story about a queer, nonbinary professional wrestler named The Perfect Bastard,” Johnson said. “The poems follow their career as they navigate issues of gender, sexuality, romance, class, worker’s exploitation and worker’s rights all set in the colorful, cartoonish world of pro wrestling.”

Literary inspirations of Johnson’s include Mary Oliver, Hanif Abdurraqib, Nikki Giovanni, Danez Smith, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Kurt Vonnegut, Woody Guthrie and Akira Toriyama, among others.

“Ilya Kaminsky’s collection, ‘Deaf Republic’ really informed the way I approached ‘The Perfect Bastard,’” Johnson said.

Johnson has ideas for newer works, but is focusing on “extracurriculars” in the realm of poetry, including leading a protest poetry series in Tulsa called “People’s Poetry,” and editing poetry anthologies for other creators like Zhenya Yevtushenko, which features works from other queer authors.

“Stuff like that has taken a lot of my focus, but I love that part of writing, too, because it is more communal and less individual,” Johnson said.

Johnson said poetry is important, particularly in this moment in time.

“A lot of books are being banned or challenged right now, especially here in Oklahoma.

Most fascist societies experience some kind of book burning or book banning, raids on galleries and museums, incarceration of artists, attacks on the press, or some kind of regulation on information and ideas,” Johnson said. “It’s horrific, but also highlights just how powerful art and writing can be. If the powers that be weren’t afraid of what artists had to say, they wouldn’t go to to such lengths to silence them.”

Outside of writing, Johnson enjoys reading, sewing listening to music, and playing video games, walking and biking.

“I’m an animal lover, and lately I’ve been trying to befriend a cute black cat that lives outside my apartment,” Johnson said.

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