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a journey in photographs
Brian Turner, author of Here, Bullet (2005) and Phantom Noise (2010) recently received the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship. While abroad, Brian took hundreds of photos and shared these with Alice James Books.
A haunting photo from Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Islands in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Above, a statue of Buddah in the ancient kingdom of Ayutthaya, Thailand
The Temple of Literature, Hanoi, Vietnam
Above, Brian and his ďŹ ance, Ilyse, get their feet cleaned by ďŹ sh at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar
Boats on the outskirts of Venice, Italy Brian atop the standing stones of Dartmoor, Devon, England
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alice asks... Daniel Johnson Daniel Johnson: When the apocalypse touches down—or when AJB stops by, for that matter—my wife and I will be well stocked with way too many jars of pickled jalapeños. AJB: If your CD player was broken and would only play one album, what album would you want it to be? JOHNSON: The Bach Cello Suites. AJB: Best film you’ve seen recently? The worst? JOHNSON: La Moustache. I never seem to remember the worst because I nod off when it isn’t going well. AJB: What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?
AJB: If you could commandeer any vehicle for the day what type of vehicle would you choose? JOHNSON: The Italianbuilt tandem bicycle we keep at the Bigfoot Institute—it’s hell going uphill, but it’s a rush on the downside.
JOHNSON: A member of my host family encouraged me to drink water straight from the Río Naranjo while I was studying abroad in Costa Rica. Two
AJB: When was
parasites later, my gut’s never been the same.
the last time you laughed out loud
AJB: What’s the most awkward situation you’ve ever found yourself in?
and why?
JOHNSON: My brother and I were once offered fried monkey by the tat-
JOHNSON: Most days, the students at 826 Boston keep me laughing. They
tooed descendants of headhunters at a harvest festival in Borneo. Monkey, if
write truly brilliant and hilarious sentences like “Her mom was big like all
you’re wondering, is hard to get out of your teeth.
moms are.”
AJB: What’s the most random thing you’ve found while gardening?
AJB: What’s the best meal you make?
JOHNSON: I used to grow vegetables at Frankie Machine Garden in
JOHNSON: Panang curry pork, Thai fish cakes, whole fried tilapia with basil
Chicago’s Ukranian Village. One summer, a jokester secretly planted
and chili, green papaya salad, and black sticky rice pudding.
marijuana in the bowl of the baby blue toilet, where I used to grow petunias. AJB: If you could have a conversation with any deceased poet, who would you AJB: f you were stuck on an island with one person and one personal item, with
choose?
whom would you want to be stuck, and with what?
JOHNSON: I’d love to uncork a bottle of good wine with Pablo Neruda
JOHNSON: My wife, Ebele, and a chessboard.
sitting seaside in his home at Isla Negra.
AJB: Do you have a favorite radio program?
AJB: What’s the last book you read?
JOHNSON: I’m a sucker for This American Life. A good friend just appeared
JOHNSON: Interviews with Francis Bacon by David Sylvester. I always keep
on an episode about being detained in the Rubber Room run by the New York
that book within arm’s reach of my writing desk.
City Department of Education. I was a little jealous. AJB: What’s your favorite mythical creature? AJB: You’ve lived in a lot of major cities, which was your favorite?
DJ: The Mongolian Deathworm.
JOHNSON: I’m a displaced Chicagoan. I miss the grit, the mercurial skies, La Pasadita, the Ashland bus, and the way Lake Michigan changes hues a
AJB: So, how do you catch a falling knife?
thousand times a day.
JOHNSON: You’ve got to read the book.
Ebele Okpokwasili-Johnson
Alice James Books: If AJB were to look in your refrigerator, what would we find?