My newest book, Story Poems From a Western Colorado Boyhood, is out. I have been writing these stories for decades. Some are funny, others serious, some mythical in the sense that, though they really happened, they still touch the spirit of the mountains and high deserts of the West. The wonderful cover photo was taken by our son, Kevin Michael (Alazanto) Davis. We miss him.
Filed under poems, Poetry, Thomas Davis
drawing by Paul Pletka
Paul Pletka is now one of the nation’s best known artists. When Paul came over to our small trailer for supper while we were newlyweds, long before he was famous, he drew this charcoal portrait of Ethel. He had not changed his name to Paul Pletka yet, but was Bill Johnson, one of Tom’s childhood friends. That was 44 years ago now.
Filed under Art
by Thomas Davis
To Mildred Hart Shaw and Paul Pletka
A sherry in her hand, surrounded by
the books that filled the room from floor to ceiling,
she watched the young man, self-absorbed, apply
a tiny brush to lead-framed glass, a feeling
of richness emanating from a scene
of large-eared rabbits sitting in the snow
beside a gully, mountains rising white, pristine,
into a winter sky that almost glowed.
The glass had traveled west a hundred years ago
strapped in a wagon pulled by two huge horses.
“That’s good,” she said. “It has a Christmas glow.
No rivers, but it sets the rivers in their courses.”
“A Christmas door,” he said. “It’s here, but then
you’ll wipe it clean to make it just a door again.”
Filed under Poetry, Thomas Davis
fourwindowspress 