Work by Gavin Dillard

We cried at the station

a ghost in a shotgun (a
tear on the floor)
they thought we were
brothers and
he’s off to war.
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Orange Kitty Bleeding

I miss all my old lovers, wherever they
lay bleeding beneath the grass, I would
take them all once again in my arms and
tell them that it is not that bad, that it
will all be all right;
death after all seems so unreachable
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The Object of War

And this I thought, as I licked his
blood from the shore, for all the
hatred the strife and the wars, this
when eternity slams shut her last
door, this at long last was
worth dying for.
Posted

A Man

So let me dance and let me burn
as all this universe doth churn,
and when eternity is done
at last at least I had my fun.
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Self-Interview

Nakedness is a metaphor for openness. It is what poets must be if they are to guide and lead. We are the feelings for those who have lost theirs; the inspiration for the uninspired. I suppose there are distinctions between nakedness and nudity, but who cares. The words take on different meanings according to context. It is indeed clothinglessness; openness, exposure … and at its heart honesty. Truth. Which is the soul of poetry. The words of poetry are merely the artifice; the clothes.

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Tomales Point

We sat on Tomales Point, his lips were dry and cracked inside my own; I could taste what we had had for lunch some three hours before.
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Gavin Geoffrey Dillard has published eight collections of verse, two anthologies, and his infamous Hollywood tell-all, IN THE FLESH: Undressing for Success. Also known as “The Naked Poet,” his poems have been recorded by James Earl Jones, Don Adams, and published in anthologies and periodicals worldwide. An anthology of his life's work, THE MORTAL POEMS (the first half-century), will come out in 2014 from Sibling Rivalry Press. Dillard was schooled at both The North Carolina School of the Arts and California Institute of the Arts. He was tutored in songwriting by David Geffen, and in playwrighting by Jerome Lawrence and Tom Eyen. Deena Metzger, Ian Young, and Christopher Isherwood were also ongoing mentors. The author of dozens of songs, Gavin has written lyrics with and for such luminaries as Peter Allen, Chanticleer, Sam Harris, Jake Heggie, Glen Roven, Lowell Liebermann, Ralph Edwards and Disney Studios. His classical art songs ("Of Gods and Cats") have been featured at Lincoln Center by mezzo Jennifer Larmore.

He has written comedy with and for Dolly Parton, Joan Rivers, Peggy Lee, Vincent Price, Lily Tomlin. Gavin is the co-author of BARK!, the musical, which has played throughout North and South America, and author of OMFG!!!, an iLove Story, which premiered in 2011 in San Francisco. Spring of 2014 will see the opening of WHEN ADONIS CALLS, an opera comprised entirely of Dillard's poetry, by Clint Borzoni, with libretto conceived and constructed by John de los Santos.