Orrick Glenday Johns

Background

Johns was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, to George Sibley Johns and Minnehaha McDearmon.

Career

He was active in the Communist Party. He lost a leg as a child in Saint Louis to a streetcar accident. She was plagued by anorexia and mental illness, and was probably the love of his life.

They had a daughter, Charis.

He committed suicide by poisoning himself in Danbury, Connecticut. He is mentioned in Kenneth Rexroth"s poem "Thou Shalt Not Kill" as "hopping into the surf on his one leg".

1917 - Asphalt and Other Poems

1920 - Black Branches, A Book of Poetry and Plays

1925 - Blindfold, a novel

1926 - Wild Plum: Lyrics, with Sonnets to Charis

1937 - Time of Our Lives: The Story of My Father and Myself, autobiography.

Achievements

• He won a poetry contest in 1912 hosted by The Lyric Year, despite competing against Edna Saint Vincent Millay"s famed "Renascence", a victory he felt was misjudged.