John Paul Davis
Newsletter
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On Revision
Friend,
“Revision,” a synonym for editing or rewriting, doesn't literally mean "to rewrite" but rather means “to see again.” It gained the meaning associated with rewriting late in its career, but I think I prefer the deeper, original meaning. I’ve been thinking about revision as I revise a poem that, unlike most of the poems I’ve written, has a deadline. As with pretty much all of the poems I’ve written that did have deadlines, this one’s deadline is a performance date. The poem must be read out loud to other human beings on a certain day, at a certain time, so I cannot follow my normal revision process, which is to leave it alone until such time as I either re-encounter the poem in my saved files, sometimes years later, or I am struck by how to revise it and I hunt it down and open up the file and get to work.
I am, to quote the musician Brian Eno, more of a gardener than an architect. I know writers wh... Continue Reading On Revision -
Resisting Spittlegib
Friend,
I’m trying to maintain some consistency here with this newsletter, and my informal goal is to send a little something out weekly, which goal feels, at times, improbable to me, because a voice inside me keeps insisting that I won’t have anything to... Continue Reading Resisting Spittlegib
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The Uncomputable
Recently (like, very recently, as in mere minutes ago) I responded to a friend who is contemplating starting their own newsletter but who also is feeling apprehensive about the prospect by saying “The world is full of voices and forces that will tell you not to write. Don’t li... Continue Reading The Uncomputable
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Hark! Behold!
A colleague called me a “music snob” at the company holiday par... Continue Reading Hark! Behold!
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Startled by startling truths
It’s a Wednesday, far too war... Continue Reading Startled by startling truths
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Burned
Once, the groom of a wedding in which I was a groomsman surprised me and the other groomsmen by taking us skydiving. On the morning of the wedding. Instead of a bachelor party, we had gone camping, a favourite activity of the groom’s, and in the morning as we drove back toward... Continue Reading Burned
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Turning Fifty
I do not feel fifty years old. I’m not fifty, not for another four days, so perhaps that is why, but I also don’t feel forty-nine and three hundred sixty-one days either. Granted, I also don’t know what fifty, (or 49.9890411) ought to feel like it, so I reckon what I really me... Continue Reading Turning Fifty
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Announcing Climbing A Burning Rope
Dear Friend,
It’s raining on this Saturday morning here in New York City, the seventh Saturday in a row it has rained. I tell you, I don’t mind the rain - in fact, I rather enjoy it. Of course, nothing requires me to be out in it working; I can enjoy it as an aesthetic e... Continue Reading Announcing Climbing A Burning Rope
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Nowhere Else Could This Happen
Dear Friend,
I’m writing this in the sky. I’m on an airplane, headed to a music festival in southwestern Ohio, where I’ll be performing some of my poetry and facilitating a poetry workshop at the invitation of the folk-rock band Continue Reading Nowhere Else Could This Happen
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One Little Light
Since last October, I’ve been temporarily living in Massachusetts, in the Boston area, while my wife performs in a play at t... Continue Reading One Little Light
Thanks
As I write, it’s the morning of “Black Friday,” the colloquial name for the Friday after Thanksgiving as celebrated in the United States. Though that name for the day didn’t really pick up national usage until the internet, people in certain regions of the U.S. have been using... Continue Reading Thanks
The Ritual Itself
Hello, light of the future,
A few autumns ago, after travelling in Italy with my wife and staying in people’s homes via AirBnb where we noticed over and over that many Italians make their daily coffee using Continue Reading The Ritual Itself
Beyond Good & Bad In Art
Hello friend,
Right around this time eleven years ago, two of my then-favorite rappers, Jay-Z and Kanye West, released the collaborative album Watch The Throne. I remember it being a particularly hot New York City summer, and the music, which was probably the la... Continue Reading Beyond Good & Bad In Art
Dreams and Motives
Dear friend,
Last night I had a vivid dream in which I was attending, for the first time in two decades, a poetry show I frequented when I was living in Chicago in the late 1990s. At that time the show, which was a poetry slam with an open mic, was held in a bar named Ma... Continue Reading Dreams and Motives
My History Of Maladjustment
Dear friend,
Last week I joked with my sister that I wasn’t too excited about Independence Day, and that Juneteenth was “actual independence day.” On reflection, even that isn’t true; since the Civil War ended, there have been struggles for giving women the right to vote... Continue Reading My History Of Maladjustment
Be A Sign
Hello friend,
Last week’s letter inspired quite a few responses, many more than I expected, a pleasant surprise, since I had been very close to ditching that topic and writing about something else altogether, because who wants to read a middle-aged straight cis white man... Continue Reading Be A Sign
After A Long Hibernation
Hello friend,
Some years ago, I read an observation that “peak newsletter” had been reached, and I think that is probably true, yet here I am, writing to you. Last year, as many of you know, I wrote a poem a day for the entire year and posted them to Substack, a commitme... Continue Reading After A Long Hibernation
Release Day!
Hello you light of the world,
Today will be the first really warm day of spring, and therefore of this year. My morning walk through Fort Tryon Park was a foggy one, as if the curtain of winter were being raised, set to an uproar of birdsong. Yesterday I listened to the ... Continue Reading Release Day!