Love is: A former magistrate's poetic reflections on love and marriage in a county courthouse

From 2013 to 2019 J. Anton Davis served as a North Carolina Magistrate Judge in Raleigh North Carolina. From his ninth-floor courtroom in the towering Wake County Justice Center he performed nearly 6000 civil wedding ceremonies. While there are countless stories Davis could share from his tenure as a magistrate judge Love is focuses on the most memorable aspect of the many ceremonies he officiated: love. The memories found in this collection of poems are all firsthand accounts of love shared between couples family friends and even strangers all set in the context of a North Carolina civil wedding ceremony. At a time when the world and the relationships that shape it can feel strained and adversarial Davis offers a refreshing renewal of hope in this thoughtful depiction of love and marriage in a county courthouse.