Police Violence
The subject of police features heavily in Johnson's poetry, but it always shares a close pairing with violence. In Johnson's experience, the police are not trustworthy. In "Sonny's Lettah" several officers stop young Sonny and Jim on a platform and accuse them of theft unexpectedly. When Jim resists arrest, they first laugh at him and brutally attack him, injuring his head, stomach, ribs, and groin. They use this excuse as an opportunity to also attack Sonny, who gives them a valiant, if equally violent, fight. Again, in "Di Great Insohreckshan" Johnson writes about the affairs in Brixton, in April of 1981. The police had led a number of questionable raids in the ghettos, targeting African ex-pats and ethnic minorities in the area without provocation. Eventually the distrust between the police force and the community erupts in a riot which leaves hundreds dead.
Comparison
In his poetry, Johnson exhibits a preoccupation with comparison. He often writes about two characters or two groups who are placed either at odds with one another or in conjunction with one another. Either case relates the two parties two one another through comparison. For example, in "Sonny Lettah," Sonny and Jim are presented as standing in different positions of favor in their mother's eyes, or at least in Sonny's interpretation of her perspective. He paints himself as a provoked aggressor, largely conscious that he has disappointed his mother by not protecting Jim better. When talking about Jim, however, Sonny points only to the injustice of his situation, allowing no room for his mom to similarly feel disappointed in him.
Johnson writes about himself in comparison to other poets in "If I Woz a Tap-Natch Poet." He desires to write on a level with Okigbo, Walcott, or Eliot. He wants to effect his readers like the loss of a lover, as if leaving a gap in one's own identity. Distancing himself from this goal, which he sees the aforementioned poets accomplishing, Johnson poises himself for growth, but remains largely self-depreciating. The discrepancy between Johnson's goals and his present skill is what he esteems to appreciate in these other poets.
South African Politics
Although he hails from Great Britain, Johnson features South African politics as a frequent theme in his poets. The politics themselves are never the subject; rather the people involved are the focus. Johnson treats politics tangentially, such as describing the glory of the protestors of the 1981 Brixton Riot in "Di Great Insohreckshan," but refraining from explaining the event itself. He leaves readers to distribute themselves into two groups: the proverbial "insider" who already knows about Brixton and the outsider who must research the event in order to fully comprehend Johnson's perspective. The event remains secondary to the values of the participants and their ability to impact change for successive generations.
