Private Mentorship with Joshua Davis

BIO

Joshua Davis is the author of Reversal Spells in Blue and Black (forthcoming from Seven Kitchens Press) and, with Allison Blevins, the co-author of Chorus for the Kill (Seven Kitchens Press) and fiery poppies bruising their own throats (forthcoming from Glass Lyre Press). He holds an MFA from Stonecoast at the University of Southern Maine, an MFA from the University of Mississippi, and an M.A. from Pittsburg State University. A former John and Renee Grisham fellow, he offers online workshops and private mentoring at The Poetry Barn. Recent poems have appeared in One Art, The Hunger, Glass: A Journal of Poetry. He is a doctoral candidate in Literature at Ohio University, and he teaches high school English near Tampa, Florida.

ARTIST & TEACHING STATEMENT

I move around a lot, and each time I move, I shed books and bed frames, quilts and cabinets. But my painting of the poet Louise Bogan stays close. So do my handmade replica of Mary Poppins' umbrella, copies of Anne Sexton's Love Poems and Dorothy Allison's Two or Three Things I Know for Sure (which I give away and buy again) and a 1964 Jim Beam bottle inspired by I Dream of Jeannie.  

Like my talismans, the poems I love best range from the polished and austere, to the magical, to the unabashedly sentimental. I was lucky enough to hear Lucille Clifton say, "The house of poetry is very large. It has many rooms." I want to stand in as many of those rooms as I can. Not every room suits me, but I learn from each room, and each one belongs. Each room offers something indispensable. I work hard as a reader, as a teacher, and as a lover of poetry to see clearly what a poem is doing—and what the poet wants to accomplish—rather than to impose my own vision. I believe in the adage "There are no mistakes—only effects." In mentoring, I collaborate with the poet to name these effects, to ask questions, and to map other choices a poem might make.

I bring to the table a meter-maker's precision and an outlaw's heart. I admire tight control, gaudy imagery, and take-no-prisoners honesty. I care less about whether a poem is good and far more about whether a poem is real. I believe poetry provides the poet with other worlds to wander. I want to enrich those other worlds as much as my attention, compassion, and tenacity will allow. 

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Poetic forms (especially out-of-way and hybrid forms), meter (including distant, neglected meters), persona, concision/economy, American women poets,  

imitation as homage, erasure/procedural poetics 

INFLUENCES

Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Annie Finch, Lucille Clifton, Kathleen Raine, Lynda Barry, Patricia Smith, Ai, Anne Carson, Christina Rossetti,  Emily Dickinson, Anne Bradstreet, A.S. Byatt, Angela Carter,  Sandra Cisneros

TESTIMONIALS

“Signing up for private mentoring with Josh has been extremely important to my development as a poet. I got to know Josh by attending several of his classes on form, revision, meter and more meter. Josh is incredibly sensitively attuned to what it is a poem is trying to convey. But to that, he brings a technical proficiency and his vast knowledge of contemporary poetry. The effect is a unique talent in enabling poems to become more themselves, or should I say, their best selves. Bluntly put, Josh always 'gets' what I am trying to do and is very good at helping me do it better. Part of why he does it so well is that he is patient and painstaking, loves detail and is happy to polish and stretch a poem until you are completely satisfied with it. And then some more, if he feels you should be challenged to go even further. Besides working on my poetry, Josh designed a reading list for us comprising essays by poets about poetry. I have so enjoyed finding an intellectual peer to discuss the formal aspects of poetry with. He has shared many of his favourite poets and poems with me, and for this I will always be grateful. I'll be back for more." —Dr Paula Fourie  | Research Fellow Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation  

“I have loved working with Josh. He is very thorough in his critiques, providing specific and detailed suggestions. It is obvious that he has read each poem many times before offering insightful comments. He is supportive through multiple revisions, which I have found particularly helpful. He also has made suggestions for reading poems and poets. This has improved my understanding of contemporary poetry. Mentoring, especially with Josh, has been the right next step for me. ” — Jean Wollam