John Barton Wolgamot (May 18, 1902 – April 25, 1989) was an American outsider poet who is primarily remembered for his experimental book-length poem In Sara, Mencken, Christ and Beethoven There Were Men and Women (published 1944).
Mencken, an influential journalist and critic of the early 20th century, evidently hoping for a positive review.
Wolgamot's work captured the imagination of several young poets and critics when the poem was discovered in a second-hand shop in the 1950s by then-graduate student Keith Waldrop.
Waldrop and Robert Ashley tracked down Wolgamot in mid-1973, finding him living in New York City and describing him as "an old-fashioned spiffy dresser" in his 60s.
Wolgamot’s status as a cult figure has been enhanced in recent decades by musical compositions by Robert Ashley and American instrumental group Tortoise in which his work, if not celebrated outright, is heavily referenced.