to teach
that words gained strength
from the quiet silence
of what had been first
trimmed and cut away.
“Tools of the Trade”
Karl Plank’s recent poetry has appeared in journals and publications such as Notre Dame Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Zone 3, New Madrid, Tahoma Literary Review, River Heron Review, Presence, Spiritus, Briar Cliff Review, Saint Katherine Review, Jelly Bucket, Bluestem, and basalt, and has been featured on Poetry Daily.
He is a past winner of the Thomas Carter Prize for nonfiction (Shenandoah, 1993) and a Pushcart nominee (2016). His poetry chapbook A Field, Part Arable is available for order from Lithic Press (http://www.lithicpress.com/index.php/our-catalog/72-a-field-part-arable). BOSS: Rewriting Rilke, a chapbook of micro-monologues that reimagine Rilke’s Book of Hours, is available from Red Bird Chapbooks (https://www.redbirdchapbooks.com/content/boss).
Since 1982, he has taught at Davidson College where he is the J.W. Cannon Professor of Religion. He lives in Cornelius, North Carolina with his family, many musical instruments, and a yard where goldfinches gather to feed.
Contact: kaplank@davidson.edu
Karl Plank 
William and I recently spent the evening with David and Lauren. David told us about your poem that is something about ‘I thought I would go first’ and we went over to his new home and read it together. So tender and so real. Where may I get a copy of it?
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