“Hitler’s Mustache”
published in 2006 He said it is a book for the anomalies of the world. “Hitler’s got that goofy mustache, right? Like, how is the most evil dude in the world, Hitler, also a ridiculous human to look at?“Poetry! Poetry! Poetry!” published in 2010 He said experiments with radical honesty about his poet’s intentions“TINA” published in 2013 He said ‘TINA’ is about whether or not you want a muse “Maybe a muse isn’t the greatest thing. It forces you to do stuff that society looks at as ridiculous, like staying up all night writing poems that basically no one cares about.”Personal website: artisnecessary.comArt is everything for assistant professor of English Peter Davis.
As a poet, Davis writes five or six poems during one of his classes as an example for his students and as encouragement to develop a consistent writing schedule.
After he packs up his things for the day and leaves campus, he goes home and writes more. Davis says writing more than one poem a day isn’t uncommon.
“[Art] gives us an outlet to think about and discuss all of the things in life that otherwise we’re not really free to think about and discuss,” he said.
Davis said he gives form to bizarre dreams, illogical actions and intrusive thoughts. These flighty imaginations offer muse for his poems, along with playing guitar for his one-man music project Short Hand and even by growing “the General,” the name Davis’ children have lovingly given his iconic beard.
Davis can be seen walking the halls of Robert Bell Building with his hands jammed into his pockets and his beard masking whatever facial expression he may or may not have.
“Everyone says he seems kind of grumpy, which is true, and then you meet him and he’s super bubbly, energetic and nice,” said Brittany Means, a junior creative writing major.
Means took the introductory creative writing class at Ball State before taking an introduction to poetry course with Davis. She said she’s never experienced more creative freedom in a writing class than she did with her first assignment with Davis.
“You can tell he’s really passionate about what he’s doing,” Means said. “And you can tell from the second he starts talking.”
On the first day of Means’ class with Davis, she said he launched into a lengthy tangent.
Davis said he likes tangents. It’s how he writes.
“I get stuck on something and then I write that way until I’m done with it,” he said.
The obsession with an idea might last for years until Davis compiles enough to put into a book — of which he has three published.
His first book “Hitler’s Mustache” was published in 2006. Almost every explanation of his works begins with an anecdote.
“Hitler’s got that goofy mustache, right?” he began. “Like, how is the most evil dude in the world, Hitler, also a ridiculous human to look at?”
Davis said “Hitler’s Mustache” is a book for the anomalies of the world, the things that don’t make sense no matter how hard they’re thought about.
Following “Hitler’s Mustache” came “Poetry! Poetry! Poetry!” in 2010 and “TINA” in 2013.
In the books, Davis experiments with radical honesty about his poet’s intentions and addresses poems to a specific entity named Tina.
“‘TINA’ is about how maybe you want a muse, but maybe you don’t want a muse,” he said. “Maybe a muse isn’t the greatest thing. It forces you to do stuff that society looks at as ridiculous, like staying up all night writing poems that basically no one cares about.”
Davis said his poems are not traditional — playing with the idea of poetry rather than the conventions of it.
“Most of the good sonnets have already been written. People have been writing sonnets for 500 years,” he said. “I’m probably not going to do anything new or interesting writing a sonnet.”
He said a good artist isn’t one who tries to emulate traditional poetry, either.
Davis said he wants to write something not already in books and hopefully change the way most people think about poetry in the process.
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