The Clown in the Tent

Central Virginia poet David Black draws his inspiration for these poems from his life experiences and search for faith... whatever times a Higher Power has been revealed to him.

David Black is a rural Virginian whose poetry reflects that heritage. A graduate of UVa, he's published a collection of clerihews and a volume of spiritual verse, as well as more general lyric poetry. Only in recent years has he become a steady writer: after publishing in '68 and '70, he did not publish another poem until 1990.

Most of his output has come in the past two decades. Some of his magazine, journal, and anthology credits include THE PIEDMONT VIRGINIAN, APPALACHIAN HERITAGE, APPALACHIAN JOURNAL, NOW & THEN, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, THE HAMPDEN-SYDNEY POETRY REVIEW, SOUTHERN POETRY REVIEW, TAR RIVER POETRY, VIRGINIA ENGLISH BULLETIN, VIRGINIA LITERARY JOURNAL, POTATO EYES, FRIENDS JOURNAL, THE SCOTTISH BANNER, SKYLINE 2014, SKYLINE 2016, SKYLINE 2017, and SKYLINE 2018. Two of his poems appeared in a previous edition of THE RANDOM HOUSE ANTHOLOGY OF LIGHT VERSE.

Among those who have admired his work are Henry Taylor (Poetry Pulitzer '86), who supplied a blurb for the re-issue of SOME TASK, LONG FORGOTTEN); Sharyn McCrumb (NY TIMES best-selling author who supplied a blurb for same); and Ted Kooser (Pulitzer winner and former Poet Laureate of the US who selected one of Black's poems to feature in his bi-weekly "American Life in Poetry" column).

He's a retired teacher, the former poetry editor of ENGLISH JOURNAL, a former pastor, and a wedding officiant.

Currently, he is working on a new general collection, a stack of light verse poems, and a collection based on his recent trip to Scotland and Ireland. He has an occasional blog entry on WordPress.

• Publisher: ‎ Persimmon Tree Press; First Edition (January 1, 2010)
• Language: ‎ English
• Paperback: ‎ 87 pages