About Geffrey Davis

Geffrey Davis is the author of the poetry collections Night Angler, the winner of the 2018 James Laughlin Award, and “Revising the Storm,” the winner of the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr., Poetry Prize. His work has appeared in Crazyhorse, The ​New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, and PBS NewsHour. He currently teaches in the Creative Writing & Translation program at the University of Arkansas.

Here is one of his poems which was featured in The New Yorker in 2018:

I.

Thousands of miles from home, you wake
in a cheap hotel with thirst so urgent you have
no choice but to find the bathroom faucet
with your mouth, drink deep, and understand
the daily sigh made by bodies everywhere
in this small town. Your new cushy job gives you

bottled artesian water, which you consider
as you taste the tap. Used to be there was
no good distance between this rivery tang
and your fluid desires. Used to be you’d shove
aside a sweaty friend or jab a sibling
for the first shot at placing lips to the only

neighborhood source. Used to be no future
in yearning.    Feel how far you’ve come?

Poetry Reading at Crystal Bridges, Saturday, February 15

Davis will be at Crystal Bridges this Saturday, February 15 at 1 p.m., reading work from his recent collection of poems, Night Angler. Davis’s poems explore fatherhood, race and social justice through a lens of wonder and gratitude. According to the author, the book is a “love letter to [his] son.” We encourage you to come by and hear this talented poet’s words, and enjoy our newest temporary exhibition, Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal…

The event is free, but an exhibition ticket to Hank Willis Thomas: All Things Being Equal… is required.