John Tottenham is the author of one novel, numerous essays, and three volumes of poitry: The Inertia Variations (Kerosene Bomb 2004 & 2010), an epic cycle on the subject of work-avoidance, indolence and failure; Antiepithalamia & Other Poems of Regret and Resentment (Penny-Ante 2012), a sequence of mean-spirited love poems with particular respect paid to the institution of marriage, and The Hate Poems (Amok 2018), in which he adopts the persona of an embittered middle-aged man with frustrated artistic aspirations and a healthy ambivalence towards the accepted pieties of romantic involvement.
A unique purveyor of “magnanimous misanthropy” and “magical cynicism,” Tottenham has been described as “our preeminent contemporary poete maudit.”
His paintings and drawings have been exhibited in solo shows at galleries in Los Angeles and New York.
His essays and criticism appear frequently in Artillery, the LA Review of Books, and other periodicals. His long-standing column in Artillery is widely read.
Tottenham performs regularly in Los Angeles – at rock venues, bookstores, bars and comedy clubs. His performances include elements of stand-up and have been described as “confrontational self-deprecation.”
A new collection of poitry, Fresh Failure, will be published by Hat & Beard Press in the autumn of 2023.
John Tottenham 