5. Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac taught me that life is magic and exciting and full of possibilities I’d never considered before.
4. Ernest Hemingway
As an Idahoan and young writer, a pilgrimage to The Maestro’s grave was a formative experience.
3. Conor Oberst
One of the best living poets (circa folk music) today
2. Pablo Neruda
Neruda could say it like is, even if the way it is is otherwise ineffable
1. Harmony Korine
His film Gummo transformed the way I understood art and artistic integrity. I still don’t think I’ve recovered from first watching as a 17-year-old.
Joshua Lew McDermott is from South Eastern Idaho. He was an integral part of the Logan, Utah, poetry scene in the early 2010s. Along with his twin sister, Jessica McDermott, he is the co-founder of Line Rider Press, a poetry website which showcases working class poetry. His first book of poems, Codex, is coming out this summer via Hand to Mouth Books, the latest publishing outfit of the legendary Berkeley poet and publisher Charles Potts.
Joshua is also a sociologist and is the president of the African Socialist Movement International Support Committee. His political writings have appeared at jacobinmag.com, The Hampton Institute, and elsewhere.
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