{"id":482,"date":"2022-07-24T20:33:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T20:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=482"},"modified":"2025-02-04T20:40:04","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T20:40:04","slug":"poems-and-prayers-for-graduates-by-joe-davis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2022\/07\/24\/poems-and-prayers-for-graduates-by-joe-davis\/","title":{"rendered":"Poems and Prayers for Graduates by Joe Davis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>We Rise Higher<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Joe Davis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is something about poetry, the spoken word, that speaks to both the poet and the reader\/hearer in its cadence, its rhythms, its energy. Indeed, there is nothing like a poet sharing his\/her\/their work at a Spoken Word event, with fingers snapping. When I wrote poetry, it was usually about something immediate that hit me in the moment. Anyone, anything, any mood, can be the subject of a poem. For Joe Davis, his poetry collection&nbsp;<em>We Rise Higher<\/em>&nbsp;was written with graduates in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In remembrance of his own days in high school, Davis reaches back to exhort, encourage, and empower today\u2019s graduates. His gratitude to God and the community that nurtured him to make it through school is evident from the beginning, starting with the first line of the first poem in his collection: \u201cYou are enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Davis\u2019 poems come under four sections\u2014Praise and Affirmation, Joy and Celebration, Heavy Emotions, and Growth and New Beginnings. What makes them transformative is the added touch after each poem in the form of an invitation. The invitation is always relevant to the poem, inviting readers to examine themselves through certain exercises and activities, be they mental, physical, or spiritual. From there, one considers the next phase of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having had the opportunity to hear this gifted poet share his work, I was moved by his energy and passion. In following his passion, his gifts have truly made room for him. He is what those of us of a certain age call a Renaissance Man: artist, speaker, educator, facilitator, holding a Master\u2019s degree in Theology of the Arts. Davis heads a multimedia production company, a soul funk band, and a racial justice education program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>We Rise Higher<\/em>&nbsp;is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Spark House Publishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For your support of our graduates and community through your amazing blend of poetry, music, theater, and dance, I tip my hat to you, Renaissance Man Joe Davis. When we change the narrative, we change the perception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Joe-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-485\" style=\"width:103px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We Rise Higher By Joe Davis There is something about poetry, the spoken word, that speaks to both the poet and the reader\/hearer in its cadence, its rhythms, its energy. Indeed, there is nothing like a poet sharing his\/her\/their work at a Spoken Word event, with fingers snapping. When I wrote poetry, it was usually [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Poems-and-Prayers-for-Graduates-by-Joe-Davis-e1738701575336.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":487,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482\/revisions\/487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}