The Nail in the Tree: Essays on Art, Violence, and Childhood

$18.95

by Carol Ann Davis

The Nail in the Tree narrates Carol Ann Davis’ experience of raising two sons in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on the day of and during the aftermath of the shooting there. Part memoir, part art-historical treatise, these meditations lead her to explore crucial subjects, including whether childhood can itself be both violent and generative, the possibility of the integration of trauma into daily life and artistic practice, and the role of the artist.

by Carol Ann Davis

The Nail in the Tree narrates Carol Ann Davis’ experience of raising two sons in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, on the day of and during the aftermath of the shooting there. Part memoir, part art-historical treatise, these meditations lead her to explore crucial subjects, including whether childhood can itself be both violent and generative, the possibility of the integration of trauma into daily life and artistic practice, and the role of the artist.

About the Author

Carol Ann Davis is a poet, essayist, and author of the poetry collections Psalm (2007) and Atlas Hour (2011), both from Tupelo Press.  The daughter of one of the NASA engineers who returned the Apollo 13 crew from the moon, she grew up on the east coast of Florida the youngest of seven children, then studied poetry at Vassar College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  A former longtime editor of the literary journal Crazyhorse, she is Professor of English at Fairfield University, where she is founding director of Poetry in Communities, an initiative that brings writing workshops to communities hit by sudden or systemic violence.  She lives in Newtown, CT, with her husband and two sons.

Advanced Praise

“A poignant and poetic essay about terror; specifically, the terror that occurs when you have two children who very well could have been witness to a school shooting. It speaks to the way that life barges in on what should be the idyllic innocence of childhood.”
– Elisabeth Donnelly, Flavorwire.com

“Davis’s essays weave together the trauma of the [Sandy Hook School] shooting… with the sacred, mystery, wonder, and survival… to help to bring order to disorder.”
— Joy Gaines-Friedler, River Teeth

“A true poet” – Hélène Cixous

Listen to Carol Ann discuss The Nail in the Tree, as well as sharing some new poems, on the Give and Take show with Scott Jones.

Listen as Carol Ann Davis reads an excerpt for Green Mountains Review‘s “Social Distance Reading Series.”

Read a featured excerpt at Lit Hub.

Lindsey Anthony-Bacchione reviews The Nail in the Tree for Brevity magazine.

Listen to a 2020 interview with Carol Ann Davis by Brainard Carey of Yale Review at Museumofnonvisibleart.

Jennifer Jordán Schaller interviews Carol Ann Davis for Mutha magazine.

Listen to a playlist curated for the book at Largehearted Boy.

Published: March 2020
Format: paperback
ISBN: 978-1-946482-26-6