Patternicity contains a suite of poems that won a 2008 CBC Literary Award and follows the author's debut book of poems, The Velocity of Escape (Guernica Editions, 2008). As a physiologist currently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, Johnstone's work is informed by a scientific approach, his own corporeal environment and an exploration of "the unreliability of language, regardless of how it's relayed."
Infinity Network completes Jim Johnstone ’s ambitious trilogy which began with Dog Ear (2014) and continued with The Chemical Life (2017). Central to each volume is the struggle with identity at a time of great social change. Justifiably acclaimed for his exquisite rendering of acute states of mind, Johnstone explores pressing questions about the ubiquity of surveillance and social media, and evokes, with a powerful intelligence, the neurosis of living in a consumerism-obsessed era. Infinity Network not only attempts to capture the changing ideas of personhood, but also tries to create a new kind of verse to track it—a complex, bold, stark style able to give uncanny interiority to our digital dreads. As our lives descend further into disinformation and algorithmic control, Johnstone has emerged as the laureate of, in Keats’s words, truth “proved upon our pulses.”
Exploring the intersection of illness and healing, the collection reflects on the author's journey following a brain tumor diagnosis during the pandemic. It delves into the unexpected forces of recovery, emphasizing the importance of language, relationships, and nature. Jim Johnstone confronts the destruction of the North American landscape and societal polarization through his poetry, creating a dialogue between personal experience and broader societal issues. The work challenges readers to reconsider their pasts to understand their present, blending the personal with the public.
Praised for his darkly psychological accounts of extreme experiences, Jim Johnstone's fifth book of poems explores his most difficult terrain to date: mental illness and addiction. Like Coleridge's opium dreams, Johnstone's narratives in The Chemical Life are hallucinatory, coloured by his use of both prescription and recreational drugs. Returning often to the notion of rival realities--"in everything, there is a second state"--Johnstone is brilliantly disruptive and disorientating; a poet whose savagely austere forms, electrically precise images and keyed-up rhythms reveal an obsession with the mind-altering properties of language itself.
Based on the research of a small advisory group formed of key figures in the Scottish Parliament, Jim Johnston and James Mitchell use their extensive experience of Scottish politics to discuss ideas about the Parliament's future. Sir Paul Grice, Holyrood chief executive, is chairing the advisory group which includes members such as former PO George Reid, Caroline Gardner (Auditor General), Louise MacDonald (chief exec Young Scot), and Sarah Davidson (civil servant). Made up of a series of short essays, this book discusses vital issues such as public engagement, key challenges for the Parliament arising from issues such as Brexit, and what we can learn from the past. This book is truly essential read in this uncertain but exciting time for Scottish politics.