John Paul Davis
@johnpauldavis.org
Poet, musician, web developer. Author of Climbing A Burning Rope, Pitt Poetry, 2024 & Crown Prince Of Rabbits, Great Weather for Media, 2017 | husband of @mahirakakkar.bsky.social http://www.johnpauldavis.org/links
#morningcoffeelisten Solomon Burke’s 2002 album Don’t Give Up On Me. The legend teams up with producer Joe Henry on songs penned for him by Dylan, Waits, Morrison, Costello, over spare, hallowed arrangements showcasing his matchless voice. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen318 #nowplaying
It's The Same But Never The Same https://johnpauldavis.org/photography/its-the-same-but-never-the-same/ #photography
#morningcoffeelisten Over the Rhine’s 2011 album The Long Surrender. At the beginning of the polycrisis era the band re-ups on faith, hope & love simultaneously serious & playful in a perfect blend of traditional song structures & modern production Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen317 #nowplaying
#morningcoffeelisten Björk’s 2001 album Vespertine. Writing about family & the tension sexual attraction & long-term love, Björk builds microbeats from sampled household objects, pairing these with choirs, strings & her otherworldly lyrics. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen316 #nowplaying
New episode of my podcast #theuncomputable : Illegal https://johnpauldavis.org/podcast/illegal/ #podcast #poetry
#morningcoffeelisten The Sundays’ 1992 album Blind. Harriet Wheeler's growing confidence as a vocalist & lyricist alongside the band's more atmospheric & layered approach drives the songs into new, moodier, more introspective territory. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen315 #nowplaying
Jon Hassell’s 2026 album Music is Invisible. This posthumous release captures the trumpeter, samplist, & ambient pioneer's gorgeous final live performance, in which he explores themes, motifs & riffs from his previous 2 albums. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen314 #nowplaying
No I do not want to watch or listen to the companion podcast.
#morningcoffeelisten JD Allen’s 2026 album SÖWT. Fascinated with Moroccan Gnawa music, the tenor saxophonist assembles a quartet that includes the guembri, & explores rhythmic & melodic possibilities resulting in a pulsing, spiritual, hypnotic set. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen313 #nowplaying
#morningcoffeelisten R.E.M.’s 1986 album Lifes Rich Pageant. The band explore new studio techniques & technologies while embracing more melodic songcraft & writing that is more vulnerable & political, a portrait of a people at a moral crossroads Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen312 #nowplaying
New episode of my podcast #theuncomputable : Afterlife https://johnpauldavis.org/podcast/afterlife/ #podcast #poetry
#morningcoffeelisten The Walkmen’s 2012 album Heaven. On their final album, the band celebrate the joys in their own lives in this tight, pretty, melodic, & expertly-crafted album of gem after gem. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen311 #nowplaying
#morningcoffeelisten Donald Byrd’s 1973 album Black Byrd. Inspired by Curtis Mayfield & Isaac Hayes, the saxophonist enlists Motown producers to help him craft a left turn into funky, grooving, celebratory, highly melodic, genre-smashing songs. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen310 #nowplaying
#morningcoffeelisten Leon Bridges’s 2026 album Happiness Anytime. Aiming to be a balm in dark times, inspired by Afrobeat & 60s soul, collaborating with members of Jungle, the singer-songwriter sings about joy & love with sweetness & deep feeling Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen309 #nowplaying
The deal used to be: poets do all the creative work plus the emotionally taxing labor of submitting & enduring rejections. In exchange journals offered the chance for poems to be read by a wide audience. Now the deal is I do that labor PLUS fund the journal for maybe 20 people reading? No thanks.
Ben Niespodziany 📚🎪@neonpajamas.bsky.social · 3w ago$12 to submit poems to a journal? Not a manuscript, just poems? Nah.
New episode of my podcast #theuncomputable : Lazy Eye https://johnpauldavis.org/podcast/lazy-eye/ #podcast #poetry
#morningcoffeelisten Sufjan Stevens’s 2015 album Carrie & Lowell. Returning to the sparse, mostly acoustic arrangements of his early days, Stevens grieves the death of his mother & celebrates her life & love on these quiet, elegant gems. Listen: https://johnpauldavis.org/url/listen308 #nowplaying
#morningcoffeelisten Wilco’s 2001 album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Using the studio as an instrument & adopting experimental writing techniques in contentious sessions, the band explore communication relationships & anxiety on this gorgeous masterpiece. Listen: johnpauldavis.org/url/listen307 #nowplaying
I would like to thank the Sheppard Memorial Library in Greenville, NC, where, while in college, I worked as a library page, & kept checked out the Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, Wendell Berry, Derek Wolcott, Allen Ginsberg, & Anne Sexton, or, as I like to call it, my bootleg MFA.
What if — hear me out — WHAT IF I wrote in ONLY em dashes? — — — — — — — — — — — — —.
