Reviews

In the Kingdom of the Ditch by Todd Davis

monicadclark's review

3.0

A compilation of poems driven by the author's obsession with nature, whether it be in the form of capturing the image of animals and plants, or describing the primal act of hunting and killing an animal—is very Thoreau-esque. I was pulled in with his craft of sounds and rhythms and unique ways of description that defamiliarized my already cemented conception of wildlife. Davis has poems drenched and soaked in imagery that is vibrant and fertile. However (and this is mostly to do with my own preference of subject), I felt that the monotony of the nature poems to be tiring—I wanted there to be more of a connection between nature and modernity than what I saw in his collection: more of the impact of man upon nature and nature upon man. Davis meditates on themes of God and death, chiefly speaking about the death of his father and the aging of his mother, and I felt “the circle of life” to be a too-obvious connection. Overall, I’d say that only a few of his poems in In the Kingdom of the Ditch in their entirety to be gems, but that every poem included has beautifully crafted lines. Not a book I would want to read cover to cover again.