[1] He took a strong stand on poetic relativism, believing it was possible and desirable to differentiate between "good" and "bad" poetry - a stance that has drawn criticism.

[2] As a literary critic, Watson suggested that "South Africa is held together by a nexus of peoples 'dreaming' each other in terms of the myths that the distance between them creates.

[4] In February 2006, the normally reclusive Watson made the mainstream news when, writing in New Contrast, he launched an attack on Antjie Krog, accusing her of plagiarism.

He claimed that she "lifted the entire conception of her book [the stars say 'tsau' ] from [his] Return of the Moon", and that she also plagiarised from the work of Ted Hughes.

[5][6] In January 2011, Watson received the English Academy's Thomas Pringle Award for a short story, "Buiten Street", published in New Contrast.