From the details of hikes in the mountains, conversations with children, observations in the college classroom or the church sanctuary, and forays into family history, Paul Willis weaves poems that "[push you] beyond the mundane to an unusual angle of vision." (Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Christian Century ). Several of the poems in Rosing from the Dead, Willis's second full-length collection, have appeared in publications such as Appalachia, Bark, Books & Culture, Christian Century, Cider Press Review, Clackamas Literary Review, Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Mars Hill Review and Ruminate.