John Paul Davis
My name is John Paul Davis. I write poetry, build things on the web with code, make music and visual art. I love making things. This website is mostly about the things I make and do.
Latest
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Climbing A Burning Rope
My second book of poetry, published by University Of Pittburgh Press, is out now.
Inasmuch as poems can be “about” something, the book is largely about what it’s like to work in our economic system and society, what Vanessa Machado de Oliveria called “coloniality modernity” and Martin Pulcher calls our “resource-extracting way of life” and what almost everyone calls “capitalism.” I began writing it when I was working for The Largest Advertising Agency In The World - the absurdities and Kafkaesque systems of such a large company had me reflecting on my history as a worker.
Over the decades I’ve had all manner of interesting jobs, partly because when I was growing up my family was poor. Not homeless-poor or shoeless outhouse poor, but definitely below the poverty line, drinking-powdered-milk, me-wearing-hand-me-downs-from-my-sister, had-no-health-insurance, one-paycheck-away-from-distaster poor. So I had my first ... Read more
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Owed To An Outdoor Music Festival
About 2 weeks ago I was asked by one of my favorite bands, Over The Rhine, to c... Read more
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New Music and Poetry for early 2021
Today will be the first really warm day of spring, and therefore of this year. My morning walk through Fort Tryon Par... Read more
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Sweet Sixteen
I designed and built the previous version of this site, its fifteenth, in early 2017. At the time, my book of poems, ... Read more
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"Headphones" published in Another Chicago Magazine
My poem "Headphones" was published in Another Chicago Magazine.
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New poem in Rattle's "Poets Respond"
Read "Elexxxion" here. If you're coming from Rattle's site, consider joining my mailing list.
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