Atlanta poet Theresa Davis’ queer awakening leads to her words glowing in neon

Theresa Davis never imagined her words would become a luminous display in red atop one of West Midtown’s cultural hot spots.

A highly lauded poet, educator and author, Davis fought the urge to create as a child. She sought out stability and practicality, which would stifle her self-acceptance and delay recognizing her authenticity and queer identity.

Poetry “definitely saved parts of me that I think were trying to atrophy, in a weird denial about where I was supposed to go,” said Davis, who has called metro Atlanta home since age 11.

In September, the St. Louis native’s poem was immortalized by Dash Studio as a part of its “Site” exhibit at the Goat Farm Arts Center. “Ring Yourself Awake” is the first iteration of “Neon Poetry,” an ongoing lyrical and text-based series of sculptures from Dash.

Theresa Davis made a breakthrough by winning the Women of the World Poetry Slam competition in 2011 with a poem about her dad, titled “Why I Do This.” (Courtesy of Theresa Davis)

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from our studio tenants and residents who are realizing it’s here to stay,” said Allie Bashuk, arts and cultural curator at Goat Farm. “Those (tenants) with windows overlooking the work have been especially delighted to wake up each day to its thoughtful message.”

After accepting her queerness, Davis opened herself up to “boomerang moments” that helped her make room for her own innate artistic abilities, including affirmations in the form of national and regional awards. She’s now on a mission to ensure that members of the next generation find their voices sooner than she did.

Poet Theresa Davis, a teaching artist with Alliance Theatre, worked with kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta to write an original song and produce a video called “Everyday.” (AJC File 2020)

Roped into poetry

When Davis was growing up, her parents, Alice Lovelace and Charles Jikky Riley, would travel the country performing poetry and teaching. Their love of words, libraries, science, history and culture made an impression on their daughter.

“They were both poets, and so they were doing what I do now back in the ’70s, before it was actually a thing,” Davis said. “You kind of get roped into being (told) that you’re going to perform a poem at this event.”

She spent her teen years reading multiple anthologies of poets, including Patricia Smith, Claude McKay and Nikky Finney. But even with all the artistic energy around her at home and at her fingertips, Davis was drawn to the academic world first. Her parents’ commitment to the arts no matter the financial strain was inspiring, but it didn’t appeal to her, so she set out to be a teacher to pay the bills. She also considered becoming a journalist.

“You know how sometimes you want to make these decisions, but you also know that things cost money — your stomach is hungry, and you have to put something in there,” Davis said.

But even if she started teaching for money and stability, Davis now maintains she loves both writing and teaching and realizes they can work together.

“I like the idea of being able to float between both — to be able to be on an academic side and the crafting side of poetry,” she said. “I can break down those elements and be able to communicate it with other people.”

Poet’s boomerang moment

Teaching took Davis on a 30-year journey, but it wasn’t a final destination. As she began to notice signs of depression in herself in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she also recognized that being married to a man was not her last stop, either. Her discontent had to do with her denial of her sexuality.

Her father took note of her discontent, even as his health was failing after a stroke in 2003. In one of the last weeks of his life, he insisted on having a conversation with her. Speaking in a loud voice, which he rarely did, the lifelong musician and poet told Davis to “stop trying to disappear.”

A week later, he died.

“After his memorial, I decided that I was going to be visible. I was going to show up in my life,” Davis said. “I knew he was talking about me being an artist and a bunch of other stuff, like, stop hiding who you are. Stop being unhappy because you’re not straight. I just had so many boomerang moments in my body.”

An art installation in which Theresa Davis read banned books in a confessional to children at 7 Stages Theatre.

Ringing herself awake

As her dad’s words echoed, Davis found herself divorced, living her life fully as a gay woman and performing at open mics across Atlanta in the years after his death. She met her longtime friend Nate Mask at one of those open mics at Java Monkey in 2011. The fellow poets shared their work as Davis became a mainstay at the Decatur coffee shop. They both performed as a slam team in 2017.

“I can remember the first time she told me she liked one of my poems, just thinking to myself, ‘I made it! Theresa Davis likes my poem!’” Mask said.

Davis’ flair for slam poetry began to lead to the national stage. She managed to get on the wait list for the Women of the World Poetry Slam competition in 2011. The event in Columbus, Ohio, featured more than 70 slam poets from across the globe. She had arrived at the competition with no expectations. Two hours before the slam began, she learned a poet one spot ahead of her missed her flight. With a near perfect score in every round, Davis won the global slam competition with a poem about her dad titled “Why I do this.”

“I went from not being in the competition to winning the competition, and it was kind of one of those moments where I felt like I’d finally gotten out of my way,” she said. “And once opportunity knocks, it just starts kicking doors open for you.”

Another open door came in the form of a book deal Davis landed because of her poem “Breathing Lessons,” about an early love affair with a woman. The finished book, “After This We Go Dark,” was published in 2013. The city of Atlanta even devoted a day to her, which happens on May 22 every year. In 2017, her book “Mermaid’s Manifesto” was featured on Georgia Center for the Book’s Books All Georgians Should Read list, and she was named Creative Loafing’s Best of Poetry and Spoken Word artist from 2016 through 2019.

Davis is in awe of what has happened since her own awakening. She now mentors writers and champions the written word as literary program director at the ArtsXchange in East Point. Her family, including her mom Alice Lovelace and her daughter, lead programs there. Though her father couldn’t see any of it before he left the Earth, Davis knows he’s watching.

“I’m like, ‘See, look, Dad. People can see me,’” Davis said. “I’m loving this part of myself.”