A Poetry Reading With Brad Davis
June 3 @ 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM CDT
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Join us for an intimate evening of conversation and reading with poet Brad Davis at Upper House’s retreat center, Dottie’s Ranch, on June 3. (Those honing their writing craft might also be interested in attending Davis’ June 5-7 poetry writing workshop, Making Something of It, at nearby Nashotah House Theological Seminary (space still available).)
Davis earned his MFA while he served as an Episcopal priest and chaplain of the Pomfret School in Connecticut, where he launched a creative writing program. His poems have appeared in several journals and his own, highly-reviewed, collections: Opening King David: Poems in Conversation with the Psalms; Still Working It Out: Poems (his first in the Poiema Poetry Series); and Trespassing on the Mount of Olives: Poems in Conversation with the Gospels (his second in the Poiema Poetry Series). In addition to leading poetry workshops, Davis has been a featured reader at Yale’s Literature & Spirituality Series, Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, and Gordon College’s Princemere Writers Series, among others.
During our evening we will enjoy hors d’oeuvres and beverages, after which Davis will read his work, perhaps something like the following from Opening King David: Poems in Conversation with the Psalms (Emerald City Books, 2011).
AMONG LUMINOUS THINGS
In this ocean of ordinary light,
we are reef dwellers. Whether brain coral
or parrot fish or moray, we all do
our bit, then die. The ocean teems entire,
a whole we believe by faith, wrestling
with the darkness and sorrow in our hearts.
I will never regard as wise the fool
who would have me slap a muzzle on
the voice within, small and still, inspiring
praise of whoever it may be who holds
all this in brilliant fullness. I say
let fly with adoration, thanks, and more,
for if this is not the deeper reason
we are here, then there is no reason.
God is present.
Psalm 14:5
Brad Davis
Brad Davis (MFA, Vermont College of Fine Arts; MDiv, Trinity School for Ministry) taught Creative Writing at Pomfret School, The College of Holy Cross, Eastern Connecticut State University, and, most recently, The Stony Brook School, where he was also Dean of Faculty Care. He also won an AWP Intro Journal Award. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Paris Review, Michigan Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Brilliant Corners, Image, LETTERS, Presence, Spiritus, JAMA, and many other journals. His chapbook, Short List of Wonders (Hill-Stead, 2005) was selected by Dick Allen as winner of the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. A second chapbook, Self Portrait w/ Disposable Camera (Finishing Line, 2012) was twice a finalist for the Black River and White Eagle Coffee Store competitions. A third, Of All Places, was a finalist in the Slate Roof chapbook contest. He has published four books with Antrim House and three with Wipf & Stock. He and his spouse now live above the Little River in quiet Putnam, Connecticut. (braddavispoet.com)