Ripe: Poems

by Todd Davis

Poetry. "RIPE, a strong first collection, is about as close to the earth as poetry can get. It is filled with loving awareness of the poet's immediate world, and all that lives for and around him. All I ever wished for, ' Davis] writes, was the light of fields in late August, / third mowing just cut, / old apple trees left behind.' All we wish for is poetry as sensitive and moving as RIPE gives us"--Lucien Stryk

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Todd Davis is the author of four full-length collections of poetry--In the Kingdom of the Ditch, The Least of These, Some Heaven, and Ripe—as well as of a limited edition chapbook, Household of Water, Moon, and Snow: The Thoreau Poems. He edited the nonfiction collection, Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball, and co-edited Making Poems: Forty Poems with Commentary by the Poets. His poetry has been featured on the radio by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac and by Ted Kooser in his syndicated newspaper column American Life in Poetry. His poems have won the Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Prize and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. More than 300 of his poems have appeared in such noted journals and magazines as American Poetry Review, Iowa Review, Ecotone, North American Review, Indiana Review, Gettysburg Review, Shenandoah, Image, Poet Lore, Orion, West Branch, River Styx, Poetry Daily, Quarterly West, Green Mountains Review, Sou’wester, Verse Daily, and Poetry East. He teaches creative writing, American literature, and environmental studies at Pennsylvania State University’s Altoona College.

Reviews

[Brett Starr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like so much of our past....

I love to read books, I had never read or considered reading a book of poetry. An author whose books I enjoy recommended checking out "Native Species: Poems" by Todd Davis. After looking at the preview for that collection I decided to start here with his first book of poems.

I very much enjoyed the poems collected in "Ripe". There 58 poems in all, Mr. Davis's reoccurring themes include family, love, nature and wildlife.

My favorites include:

Walking the River
Dam-Bear
Without End
Ripe
Building Walls

The one poem that stood out to me more than any other was Aneurysm, an absolute gem. I've shared its beauty with several other friends and everyone agreed.

Todd Davis's other books of poems include - "Some Heaven", "The Least of These", "In the Kingdom of the Ditch", "Winterkill" and "Native Species"

Looking forward to reading the next collection!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A debut collection of poems focusing on life, nature, farming, and the Midwest and loving all these things. There is genuine warmth in Davis's writing and a richness to his vision.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read Todd Davis' book "Ripe" as an undergraduate in my Intro to Poetry class. I decided to revisit it this week as I found myself homesick for my Midwestern upbringing. Davis' book of poems is a quiet hymn to the beauty of the Midwestern United States. Nature and nurture collide in these poems and Davis' language is like a welcome friend at the dinner table. The greatest compliment I think I can pay Davis is that this is a book you can come back to time and time again, no matter what age you are, and find a beautiful kernel of truth.