From a forthcoming Wikipedia article:


Title: Lawrence Ward "David" Davis

Lawrence Ward "David" Davis (1946-2020) was a scientist, educator, entrepreneur,
and poet. He fit creative writing into his life throughout his varied careers
that included the publication of over 40 papers and editing or contributing to
four books in his areas of expertise—machine learning and artificial intelligence,

After undergraduate work at the University of Colorado in Boulder, he worked as
a surveyor in Morocco as a Peace Corps volunteer. A conscientious objector during
the Vietnam War, in place of active duty, he taught children with learning disab-
ilities at the Eagle Hill School in Hardwick, MA, later earning his PhD in compar-
ative philosophy at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, then to the University
of Hawaii to teach philosophy and logic.

In 1982, he pursued opportunities in research in software development and applied
artificial intelligence to real world situations, ultimately becoming a high-tech
entrepreneur and forming his own consulting firms, TICA Associates and later
VGO Associates, specializing in genetic algorithms.

As D.D. Storm, his first publication was "Mud/Aurora", a short-story published
in Isaac Asimov's Science "Fiction Magazine" and subsequently anthologized and
translated.

Davis began writing poetry in the late 1960s while in college, when he and his
friends often enjoyed spaghetti dinners with money they earned reading their
poems on street corners. He continued to write poetry throughout his life,
becoming a member of the Powow River Poets in Newburyport, Massachusetts
in 2005.

Inspired by the outdoors, often the subject of his poetry, he frequently returned
to the Rocky Mountains throughout his life to hike and write. An avid birder, he
established the Poet-in-Residence position at Joppa Flats Education Center in
Newburyport, Massachusetts, serving in that role from 2012-2017, and hosting
popular programs on "Art and the Experience of Nature".

He completed four books of poetry in the last ten years of his life—all published
by Bard Brook Press of Belchertown, Massachusetts: Crossing Streams on Rocks
(2011), Joppa Flats (2017), The Joy Poems (2018) and Market Town and Other
Poems
(2020) .

Alfred Nicol, award-winning Powow River Poet and author of four books of poetry,
says of Davis in the back cover review for Crossing Streams on Rocks: "David
Davis, a poet of serious intelligence, never takes himself too seriously. Whether
he is noting that all the cows were facing north but one or writing about the
sonnet he is writing, Davis' true subject is the play of thought. He engages in
such play the way a child enters a game, alert to pattern in seeming chaos, anti-
cipating surprise. Readers, jump in!"
—Alfred Nicol's most recent publication, Brief Accident of Light is co-authored
by Rhina P. Espaillat.

 


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