BRAD DAVIS

Brad Davis (MFA, Vermont College of Fine Arts; MDiv, Trinity School for Ministry) has published ten collections of poems, most recently On the Way to Putnam: New, Selected, & Early Poems (Grayson, 2024). A California-born Canadian living in northeastern Connecticut, he has taught creative writing at two boarding schools and in two universities. His awards include an AWP Intro Journal Award and the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. 

Website: braddavispoet.com

BEFORE RELIGION

When only hunches tipped hearts

away from fear 

and grudge and massacre –

toward prudence 

and contrition and praise,

holiness was not 

a thing. Nor righteousness.

There was only 

the heart, only hunch and wavering.

Read more of Brad’s work in Solum Journal Volume I and Volume V: Legacy.