“The King of Terrors [is] an invitation for us to ponder how our relationships, past and present, give temporary form to our worlds.” – Kevin Spenst, Subterrain

“. . . [T]his is precisely what makes Johnstone’s work such a treat for us humble reviewers. We never need to look too hard to find some objet d’art in his work to fixate on.” – Jade Wallace, CAROUSEL Magazine

“. . . rarely has a poet written with such insight and precision about the surgical process itself. . .” – David Starkey, ’31 Outstanding Poetry Books from 2023,’ The California Review of Books

“Despite the unexpected and sudden diagnosis, the poems themselves continue a trajectory of approach from his prior collection, offering a wistful and examining commentary on the violence that exists just below the surface of the skin, whether through larger culture, or quite literally.” – Rob McLennan, Dusie

“Jim Johnstone’s The King of Terrors is a poetic telling of how illness and a close encounter with death can make us strange to ourselves and to the world. The book offers a chance to see our lives anew, even the things we regret. The poems dance between accepting death and hoping for a second chance to do it all again. As the poet says, “the future is as certain / as the body / it inhabits / and multiplies rapidly.” – Courtney Bates-Hardy, The Ampersand Review

“Infinity Network is a spare, sculpted, and devastating collection that fearlessly explores the outermost range, reverb, and implications of identity politics and techtopia as pale substitutes for human vitality and interdependency. “ – Virginia Konchan, On the Seawall on Infinity Network

“Dog Ear poses personal impressions and collective questions – what we leave behind, if anything, in the physical world – by cultivating images and semi-narratives that are deeply, and sometimes, ridiculously human. In doing so, Johnstone’s poems confidently confront love, death, and spectacle.” – Brick: A Literary Journal on Dog Ear

“Johnstone’s poems realize that ”Scuse me while I kiss the sky’ was permeated with ‘Nothing to do, nowhere to go, / I wanna be sedated’ from its very origin and, by now, has given way to it entirely.” – A. F. Moritz, Hamilton Arts & Letters on The Chemical Life