It was early in his sophomore year that his father, DannyMartin Davis, passed away in his arms. In their first conversation, they discussed what he wanted to be when he grew up. D.J.'s response was that he wanted to be a writer, not the doctor that his father had hoped he would become. His father looked him in the eye and told him that if that's whathe wanted to do then do it, but do it to the fullest.D.J. took these words of wisdom and carried them with him to the south side of Chicago where his family movedafter his father's passing; a defining moment in his writing career.In Chicago, at St. Rita High School, he would encounterseveral people that have impacted his life – Dr. Kisicki, Mr.G., Father Tom, Brother Jack and Brother Gerome. Under theguidance of Dr. K, D.J.'s work was published on poetry.comand in the American Poets Society through poetry contest submissions.The early successes were exciting and fueled his dream of writing his own book, Da Poems. He started writing thebook in 1999 while in the 7th grade but it wasn't until his timeat St. Rita that he would start to take it seriously. It was alsoduring this time that he met a group of young men, 'TheMagnificent Seven', that embodied the same burning desirethat he had for poetry.The Magnificent Seven, named by Dr. K, included JohnBergin, Jeff lein, Cory Malmarik, Osvaldo Murillo, Mike Rauen and Dr. K along with D.J. Davis. They met after schoolto discuss their poetry. Each poet's writing style was unique and an inspiration to the group.