Bennett, John M.

John M. Bennett is an author born in Chicago, Illinois, who moved to Columbus, Ohio. He has written more than 200 books, chapbooks, and audio recordings, including: Found Objects (collage poems, 1973), Works (1973), and Image Standards (1975). He is also an author of screenplays with John McClintock, including E Z Sleep (1978), Time's T-Bone (1979), Mail Art Romance (1982), and Be Blank (1988). He is a contributor to numerous anthologies, including The Sensuous President, edited by C.W. Truesdale. He collaborated on the book Saw Leaking Trees with Sheila E. Murphy using the joint pseudonym J.S. Murnet. He collaborated on the Luna Bisonte Productions Snozama edition with Vittore Baroni.

Bennett received awards from the San Francisco Poetry Film Festival and Ann Arbor Film Festival (1979) for the film Time's T-Bone and grants from Ohio Arts Council (1979, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1988, and 1989). He also received the Ohio Governor's Award, in 1984, for his volunteer service as poetry therapist at Central Ohio Psychiatric Hospital.

From the guide to the John M. Bennett papers, 1980-1982, (Ohio University)

Biographical Information

John M. Bennett is an American author and artist whose work, though not well known to the academic community, has made a significant contribution to the world of innovative poetry. Born in Chicago, Bennett received his B.A. and M.A. from Washington University and his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1970. He taught Hispanic literature from 1969 to 1976 at Ohio State University. Bennett is the author of numerous books of poetry, all published by small presses, including Luna Bisonte Prods, his own press. Much of his poetry relies upon the visual experience of the poem for its effect. The interplay of texts with space, the physical appearance of the page, and the printing process itself are all important elements in Bennett's work. He is also one of a growing number of poets and artists who have made innovative use of inexpensive mimeographic and xerographic processes. Luna Bisonte Prods, which he founded in 1976, publishes a variety of printed pieces including broadsides, rubber stamp art, labels, and stickers. From 1975 to 2005 Bennett produced the Lost and Found Times.

From the guide to the John M. Bennett collection, 1970-2009, (The Bancroft Library)