Going Back to Retrieve It

Through various points of view, Davis takes us back to a simpler time when “men wore suits and ties.” Her poems are observations of people she has known: neighbors, relatives and friends, of poignant memories resurfacing after a “long and peaceful nap.” We come to know a woman joyful in nature and among loved ones who’s still “struggling to maintain balance” in this ever-changing world. ~ Norma Ketzis Bernstock, Don’t Write a Poem About Me After I’m Dead *** Lorraine Davis is a quiet poet. Her poems are often soothing, sometimes painful but always thought-provoking. From “The Blue Serge Sears and Roebuck Man” to “Our Daughter’s Hair,” each has its own message for us, its own life lesson. Some make us smile, some provoke a tear. All are entertaining for they all represent life. Lorraine has found a way touch each and every one of us, making us want to go back and revisit our own memories. ~ Marianna Knowles, A Humorous Slice of Life *** Sometimes it seems that a poet has all too many riches to draw from. In Going Back to Retrieve It, L. J. Davis glimpses a garden rake leaning against a shed and finds that the homely object evokes a torrent of images and memories. With authenticity and compassion, she celebrates beloved children who grow up and deal with hardship, babies who are stillborn but fiercely loved, parents and old friends who pass away–“nothing will ever be exactly the same again.” Davis is a fearless explorer, one who knows that the splinters of glass that remain under the skin after an accident are somehow vital to the process of becoming fully alive even as she recognizes the fleeting beauty of existence. She enriches her own writing with epigraphs drawn from cherished poems, establishing a dialogue that adds glittering facets to the original work that follows. ~ Carol Alexander, Bridal Veil Falls

A Michigan native, Lorraine received her BA in English Literature from Alma College and did additional work at Michigan State and Central Michigan University while pursuing a teaching career. Always interested in writing, she has worked more seriously since joining several poetry and writing groups. She has had work published in The Journal of Poetry Therapy and several anthologies and journals in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She and her husband Robert live in Hemlock Farms along with their three seriously pampered cats.