Poet Profile

David Oates

David Oates is the host and producer of Wordland, a radio program of poetry, fiction, spoken word, and comedy, on WUGA FM public-radio in Athens GA. He emceed the Athens poetry slam, edited Monkey Magazine, and is currently the host of the monthly Word Music event. He has performed in improv. comedy troupes and wrote for the comic strip Shoe in the ’80s. He has published three books. His day job is tutoring students for standardized tests.

Books Published: Night of the Potato [fiction and poetry] (Sow’s Ear Press, Abingdon VA 1994); Shifting with My Sandwich Hand [haiku] (Monkey Books, 1999); Drunken Robins [haiku] (Brick Road Press, Columbus GA, 2011).

across 
the hot pavement
bird shadows

in the bathroom
of the natural food store
fruit flies courting

the crazy burst 
of branches—
tree jazz

Anne Frank’s house—
outside the windows, 
hammering, church bells, pigeons

carrying sleeping daughter to bed
at each of his steps
the slight wave of her feet

vacant oddity shop
by winding mountain road  
“Coming soon—Jesus.”

Credits: "across" - Albatross (Romania, in English and Romanian); "the crazy burst" - point judith light; "carrying sleeping daughter to bed" - black bough 7 (1995); "in the bathroom" - bottle rockets; "Anne Frank’s house" - black bear; "vacant oddity shop" - point judith light.