The Least of These, by Todd Davis

UMC's poet in residence, Todd Davis, recently published a book of poems, The Least of These.  You can read two of the poems below. 

Published by the Michigan State University Press, the book can be purchased online at Amazon or on the publisher's site. 

Todd is an associate professor of English and Environmental Studies at Penn State. You can read more about Todd and his books of poems on his Penn State Web site and on the Goshen University Web site.

Doctrine

I love the church
of the osprey, simple
adoration, no haggling
over the body, the blood,
whether water sprinkled
from talons or immersed
in the river saves us,
whether ascension
is metaphor or literal,
because, of course,
it's both: wings crooked,
all the angels crying out,
rising up from nests
made of sticks
and sunlight.

- Todd Davis

And the Dead Shall Be Raised Incorruptible 

Everything shines from the inside out-
not like the blaze of the sun, but like
the moon, as if each of us had swallowed
a piece of it.  Our flesh opaque, milky,
indefinite-the way you see the world
when cataracts skim your vision. 
What so many mistake as imperfection-
bulge of varicose, fatty tumor's bump-
is simply another way for the light to get out,
to illuminate the body as it rises. 
We're caught up all the time, but none of us
should fly away yet.  It's in the darkness
when your feet knock dew from leaves
of grass, when your hand pushes out  
against the coffin's lid.  Just wait. 
You'll see we had it right all along,
that the only corruption comes
in not loving this life enough. 

- Todd Davis