Revising the Storm

This debut collection by Cave Canem fellow Geffrey Davis burrows under the surface of gender, addiction, recovery, clumsy love, bitterness, and faith. The tones explored?tender, comic, wry, tragic?interrogate male subjectivity and privilege, as they examine their "embarrassed desires" for familial connection, sexual love, compassion, and repair. Revising the Storm also speaks to the sons and daughters affected by the drug/crack epidemic of the '80s and addresses issues of masculinity and its importance in family.

TABLE OF CONTENTSI. The Book of FatherWhat I Mean When I Say Farmhouse 2Revising the Storm, 1991 4King County Metro 6Instructions for a Third-Grade Report on Texas 8What I Mean When I Say Chinook Salmon 10The Epistemology of Birds 11What I Mean When I Say My Name Is Nobody 13Call Me Now 14Unfledged 16What I Mean When I Say Roller-Pigeon 18What I Mean When I Say Elijah-Man 20A Poem for God 22More than Forgery 24What I Mean When I Say Truck Driver 26What My Father Might Say, If I Let Him Speak 27My Last Love Poem for a Crackhead, #23 28From the Unsent Letters: To Klamath Falls Correctional Facility 29II. DiasporaThe Newakum River 32Write the Memory of Throwing the Stone 33Teaching Twelve-Year-Olds the Trail of Tears 34Venison 35How Can I Be 1/32nd Blackfeet? 36If the Moon Were My Lover 37What I Mean When I Say Diaspora (I) 38What I Mean When I Say Diaspora (II) 40The Epistemology of Hospitals 42The Epistemology of Gentleness 43The Epistemology of Marriage 44Divorce Means 45From 35,000 Feet / Praise Aviophobia 46Meditation at a Pennsylvania Diner: Early Morning 47Write the Memory of the Girl Dancing in Apple Blossoms 49Modus Operandi, Ad Infinitum 506th Avenue Bouquets 52III. Here a Coursing Wall, There a Slanted HouseBuilding the Stones 54What Returns 55I Dream of Meeting Myself, Age Seven, County Fair Field-Trip 56A Proposal from the Previously Divorced 58The Epistemology of Rosemary 59Farmer's Market Sweet Plums: Apology to the Flower Lady 61Dear Destruction 62Like This, For a Reason 63Ode to Trout 65What I Mean When I Say Forever 66The Discipline of Waking Love 67What We Set in Motion 68The Epistemology of Preposition 72Upriver, Downstream 73Notes 74Acknowledgements 75