Brad Davis*

Brad Davis is the author of two full-length poetry collections, Opening King David, and his new book, Still Working It Out. He is a counselor and poetry writing teacher at the Promfret School in Connecticut. His poetry has appeared in such journals as Image, The Paris Review, Poetry and Spiritus. I have been very fortunate to have edited Still Working It Out with Brad for the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books.

Poet Margaret Gibson has said of this book, "Brad Davis has mastered the art of presenting the ordinary moment with all its stunning strangeness. Reading these poems, we become mindful that we live by mystery, by beauty, and by grace."

The following is the title poem from his new collection:

Still Working It Out

for Robin Needham, killed in the 2004 Christmas tsunami

Something
shuddered in the un-

fathomable dark, and a wave
shouldered forth

like an eighteen wheeler
skidding sideways

into oncoming traffic—a wave
inhering by the power

of a word lovely
as snow on a navy sleeve,

the same word
that shuddered in each

dark cell of the dead
Christ, a wave shouldering forth

like a new heaven, new
earth, clearing away

the old, the impossible—a wave,
a word, terrible as it is

great, great as it is holy
and terrible.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Brad Davis: first post, third post, fourth post.

Posted with permission of the poet.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His new poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.