Prize-winning poet to give presentation at Oxnard College

Carol V. Davis has always felt like an ambassador for poetry.

"Many people in America don't read poetry and are a bit afraid of it," said Davis, winner of the 2007 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. "I hope to keep the magic of poetry in but take the fear out. I also hope to share experiences of living in another culture."

On April 11, Davis will read from her new book, "Between Storms," and her last book, "Into the Arms of Pushkin: Poems of St. Petersburg." The Los Angeles author's presentation is part of the Literature Arts & Lecture Series sponsored by Oxnard College.

"Carol has won awards for her work, and we are extremely delighted that she will join us in Oxnard," said Amy Edwards, director of the literature series. "Many of her works express the struggle with language and culture. She has been inspired by Russia's rich history and helps audiences picture a world they are unfamiliar with."

Davis, the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Russia, did not study creative writing in college.

"Initially I studied art and then fell in love with Russian literature," she said. "I began writing after grad school, but corny as it sounds, I knew that was what I was meant to do."

Her first book was published in Russia in a bilingual English/Russian  edition.

Davis was twice a Fulbright scholar in Russia — the first time in creative writing and second time, contemporary American literature. She also spent 10 years back and forth in Russia. The book about that experience and the changes in Russia in that 10-year period won her the T.S. Eliot prize, she said.

Her new book is not thematic in the same way, Davis said.

"There's a kind of unease in some of the poems," she said. "Some give a new twist to a fairy tale or nursery rhyme. There are also poems on historical figures and, as always, on nature. The book also raises questions of faith and doubt."

Davis, who teaches English and creative writing at Santa Monica College, also wrote two chapbooks — "The Violin Teacher" and "Letters from Prague" — and a bilingual collection, "It's Time to Talk About ...," published in Russia.

As a poet, "I don't think in terms of the next book until I am close to putting a new collection together, but I am writing new poems," said Davis, adding she has finished one section of a new book.

She spent time in August as a poet in residence at Homestead National Monument of America, a national park in Nebraska. "It was a new part of the country for me, and I responded very much to the prairie. I have a series of poems about the prairie and Nebraska."

Poetry reaches people in ways other art forms do not, Davis said.

"During important milestones in a person's life, he or she often reaches for poetry — the same goes for a country's life, as seen after 9/11 when there was a real uptick in poetry," she said. "Poetry has performed the role of conscience for a country. In Ireland and Russia, poetry, other countries, including some in Latin and South America, poetry helped people stay optimistic in difficult times and to inspire people. Poetry in those countries to this day is very much a part of the country's identity."