"to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing
its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -
means to fight the hardest battle any human being can
ever fight, and never stop fighting"
--e e cummings
Almost tentative, the poems of David Christian Stanfield have an easy cadence and a beautiful sense of erratic rhyme. Sometimes romantic and sometimes stark, they tell stories of the mind of the artist, covering subjects such as inspiration, lost love, self-perception, and the perception of everything else. Their sliding sort of grace will leave you fascinated.
Somehow during all of this LIVING, Christian found god & the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Together they saved his life. He has not found it necessary to take a drink or mood-altering drug since March 5, 2001. He smoked his last cigarette (a Parliament Light, incidentally) on July 10, 2002. Christian enjoys making healthy lifestyle changes today.
Christian began writing poetry within a month of getting sober, and has published two chapbooks of poetry so far: Take My Word (Memphis: 3ohm Press, July 2002) and Falling Together (Memphis: Full Court Press, October 2002), both available from the poet at NO COST whatsoever. He also publishes a newsletter via email, CLiP&PiN - Christian's Little Poetry & Prose Newsletter, whenever he feels like it.
Christian is currently at work on a series of autobiographical essays, which will be collectively titled Stranger Than Fiction. He is also working on his third chapbook of poetry, A Cat's Patch of Sunshine and a spoken word cd, Breaking the Sound Barrier, which should be available, well, just any day now really...
Christian resides in Memphis, Tennessee and absolutely loves it there. Did you know that there is more deciduous forest growth within the city limits of Memphis than in any other comparably sized American city? And Christian loves trees... He also loves yoga, reiki, tantric massage, the sweat lodge ceremony on Sundays, Chinese, teenage girls and the films of Woody Allen. Christian will begin work on a Master's in Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Memphis in Fall 2003 if they will have him. His favorite color is orange and his favorite non-poetry book is either John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces or Hayden Carruth's Reluctantly.
Probably the latter. Carruth survived his suicide.
(Christian chooses to hang with winners these days)
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, however measured or far away."
--Henry David Thoreau
Christian's works here at Unlikely Stories are:
2003:
On the Eve of My Sentencing
First Kiss
Mark It
Hyper-Regularity
2002:
Junk Drawer
Holiday Job
Miracle
Putting Some Miles On
Doing It Again
Sanity
Intimidation
Worth the Weight
Mourning
Stopping Traffic
Superimposition
Sometimes
The Artist, frustrated
The Plays of Our Lives