The Flower Sermon by David T. Manning (broadcast 1-20-2014) After a long career as an organic chemist David began a second life as a poet. He was winner of the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Poet Laureate Award in 1996, 1998 and 2006. Twice a Pushcart nominee, he was winner of the Sam Ragan Poetry Prize in Crucible’s Summer 2009 contest, and of the 2004 Longleaf Chapbook Prize for The Ice-Carver. His seven chapbooks also include, Out After Dark (2003), Detained by the Authorities (2007), Light Sweet Crude (2009), all from Pudding House, and Continents of Light, a collection of love poetry from Finishing Line Press in 2010.
His full-length collection, The Flower Sermon, a runner-up in Main Street Rag’s 2007 poetry book contest, has a gentle magic and sense of wonder that captivates and makes the reader want to explore the avenues opened by the poetry within. More recently Yodeling Fungus (Old Mountain Press, 2010) is a full-length excursion into comedy. Dave is the current convener of the Friday Noon Poets of Chapel Hill, with whom he has read his poetry on Chapel Hill public television and was coeditor of Always on Friday (Katherine James Books, 2006), an anthology of poems from that group. Find out more at davidtmanning.weebly.com