A life of poetry - Carle Johnson to be given Stanley Kunitz Medal for his commitment to the art

By ALANA PERSSON, LACONIA DAILY SUN

Within the walls of a four-room schoolhouse in Gilford, native Carle Johnson began learning the basics of English that would give birth to a lifelong love of poetry. Now, eight decades later, Johnson is being recognized for his commitment to poetry through the presentation of the Stanley Kunitz Medal, which will be awarded on Thursday, July 27, in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Finding the inspiration for poetry was never difficult, according to Johnson, who said that he could find a poem in everything and everywhere he went. This appreciation for the world took shape not only in his current hometown of Worcester, but was also fostered during his early years in the Lakes Region.

“When I was a boy, I would sit on the stone wall outside my Gilford home and listen to the neighbors mowing and plowing the farm fields,” said Johnson. “I would watch every year and notice the how things changed like the switch from horses to machines.”

The act of watching the world evolve and change became a key piece of Johnson's work, inspiring one of his first public poems about his frustration with the computer. Other works that talked about change were centered even closer to home, as he wrote about the ice-out on Lake Winnipesaukee.

It was not just through the observations Johnson found his calling for poetry, but also through his initial exposure to poetry at Laconia High School. At age 14, Johnson began reading Emerson in his English class and came to appreciate the deep meaning that was conveyed within his work. From this initial exposure to poetry, Johnson graduated from Laconia and went on to pursue his degree in English. This field of focus allowed him to teach at Gunstock Jr. College for two years in the 1960s. After leaving the college, he moved to Worcester where he continued to teach English and poetry at a vocational school for 25 years.

"Just reading poetry gives me a buzz that can last for days," said Johnson. "I get my energy from poetry and it has inspired me to take on many things and work with many people over the years." 

Some of the most notable things Johnson has done include organizing the Stanley Kunitz 80th Birthday Festival in 1985 and the 2005 Stanley Kunitz Symposium at Clark University. Both events were in honor of Kunitz, a two time United States Poet Laureate, whom Johnson is receiving an award in the name of.

Johnson has had poems in Concrete Wolf, Sahara and The Worcester Review, and has published three books: Herculaneum Via A Plectrum (2009), Autobiography of the Poet (2010) and The Point (2010).

Carle Johnson, a native of Gilford and Laconia High School graduate will be awarded a medal for poetry this month in Massachusetts. (Adam Drapcho/Laconia Daily Sun)