David Anthony Sam

“Contemporary poetry isn’t witty. That’s not to say it isn’t funny; on the contrary, it can be extremely amusing, sometimes even intentionally. But for the most part, the art form today vacillates between, on one hand, decrying social and/or personal injustices and, on the other, aiming at a kind of conspicuously literary self-portraiture. This leaves little breathing room for wit, which skates above both approaches like a water strider passing over a couple of submerged hippos.”

Poets from the Poetry Society of Virginia and I will be reading our ekphrastic poems at the Firnew Farm Artist Circle in Madison County VA on Sunday April 28 at 2 p.m. Join us if you can and also view the ekphrastic art.

Join Elizabeth Spencer Spragins and me at the Barnes and Noble store in Fredericksburg VA on April 27 beginning at 1 p.m. as we sign our poetry collections.

Three of my poems will be published in the Summer/Fall 2024 issue of the Journal of the Virginia Writers Club. My thanks to Editor Sofia Starnes.

Don’t put too much store by acceptances and rejections. It’s a crapshoot—who gets noticed, who gets awards. The race may go to the swiftest, but the prizes can go to all sorts of talents or tastes of the moment. The poem I think is brilliant you may find mediocre. There’s so much subjectivity to all this. So I also advise young poets is to have both humility and hubris. And the good sense to know when each should be employed.

March 30th: Saturday afternoon Poetry Reading, Art and Tea
                Visit the Arts Center in Orange & View the Exhibition        Open Wednesdays – Fridays: 12 – 8pm & Saturdays: 10am – 5pm 

If you cannot attend, view the catalog online:

 Ekphrastic Exhibition Art & Artists Catalog, March 17, 2024