David Lee Garrison

Poet

Dayton, OH
Ohio US

Author's Bio

I write about everyday things that bring deep emotions to the surface, about people and their struggles. Many of my poems have to do with the process of aging, and many hark back to high school days. My main goal as a poet is to communicate, so my poems are not hard to understand with a first reading. In all of them, however, I try to achieve a transcendence that invites a second or third reading as well. Some are comic or satiric in nature, as I believe that one of the many wonderful things poetry can do is make us laugh. I write because writing is what makes the most sense to me and because it brings me close to the heart of human experience.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Family Matters: Poems of Our Families (Bottom Dog Press, 2005)
,
O Taste and See: Food Poems (Bottom Dog Press, 2003)
,
I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio (University of Akron Press, Akron Poetry Series, 2002)
Books:
Carpeing the Diem: Poems about High School (Dos Madres Press, 2017)
,
Playing Bach in the D.C. Metro (Browser Books Publishing, 2012)
,
Sweeping the Cemetery (Browser Books Publishing, 2007)
,
Inside the Sound of Rain (Vincent Brothers Company, 1997)
Chapbook:
Blue Oboe (Wyndham Hall Press, 1984)
Journals:
Classical and Modern Literature
,
Comstock Review
,
Connecticut Review
,
Denver Quarterly
, ,
Poem
, ,
The Classical Outlook
,
The Listening Eye
, , ,
Wind
Prizes won: 

Poem, "Bach in the DC Subway," featured on Ted Kooser's "American Life in Poetry Website," October 2009. Paul Laurence Dunbar Prize, 2009. Poems read by Garrison Keillor on "The Writer’s Almanac," November 7 and 11, 2007. Individual Artist Grants from the Montgomery County (OH) Arts and Cultural District, 1996, 2000, 2004.

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English, Portuguese, Spanish
Born in: 
Bremerton, WA
Washington
Raised in: 
Bremerton, WA
Washington
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 24, 2023