Mixing translations of classic poems with tales relating to his own experiences, poet David Ferry read excerpts from his latest book to a crowd of about 40 last night at Barnes ‘ Noble at Boston University.
Ferry, a visiting professor in the Creative Writing Program at BU, is the author of four books of poetry, including “Of No Country I Know: New and Selected Poems and Translations.”
For his most recent work, a compilation of his poetry and translations, Ferry has been awarded the 2000 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. The book includes selections from each of his three previous books of poems as well as an assortment of translations from Horace, Virgil and the Gilgamesh epic, an ancient Babylonian poem.
Ferry said after 40 years of writing, he feels it is time his works are put into a collection. “The poems are related to each other, so it makes sense to make one bigger book out of them,” he noted.
While he included works from each of his previous books in his reading last night, he said the choices were made based on “some poems [he hasn’t] read around here recently and groups of poems that are related to each other.”
Ferry’s presentation included poems based on many personal experiences. For instance, his poem “After Spotsylvania Court House” includes lines taken from a letter his great-grandfather sent to his wife while he was serving in war in 1864.
Another, “Little Vietnam Futurist Poem,” is based on a photograph, and “A Nighttime River Road” stems from a childhood memory about a car trip to visit relatives. Additionally, Ferry’s reading included a series of four poems that focus on what he and his wife, who was among the attendees, call “street people.” “The Proselyte,” “Dives” and two other compositions refer to guests at church suppers where the Ferry’s volunteer.
“I really admire David Ferry’s work and would go to any reading of his. I’m always in awe of the passionate precision that he has,” said Peter Campion, a 2000 graduate of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Campion specifically noted the “sympathy” and “ferocity” Ferry brings out in his portraits of the street people.
Last night’s listeners said they appreciate Ferry’s truthfulness in writing and his ability to color ordinary things to make them seem unordinary.
“In each poem he sings with a sustained note of beauty,” said James Jayo, a member of the GRS Class of 2001. “Even when describing the most mundane objects and experiences, a sense of wonder both in his work and his [reading] voice carries that sense of greatness inside the audience.”
“All the words are true. A writer has to write about what he knows … and that’s what [Ferry] does,” added Ted Richer, an English professor at BU.
Ferry’s works vastly differ in their form.
“[I] most admire [Ferry’s] stanza variety and master form, and in particular, the rhythms,” said Maggie Dietz, a 1997 graduate of GRS. “When he reads, it’s often song-like.”
While some, such as the first work read, “The Late Hour Poem,” employ the convention of free verse, others such as “Movie Star Peter at the Supper for Street People” adhere to strict iambic pentameter.
Still, another, “The Guest Ellen at the Supper for Street People,” is written in what Ferry called a “hateful form” known as sestina. Ferry said this type of poem is difficult to arrange and noted, “I hope never to write another one,” which produced a chuckle from the audience.
Ferry went on to explain this type of poetry, composed of six unrhymed stanzas with the same set of end words, has characteristics that are helpful in an obsessive and repetitive kind of poem. “The poem then ends with a three line stanza in which those six words occur two to each line,” Ferry explained.
His additional selected readings included a quatrain, a five-line poem called “The Chair,” and, “Caprimulgidae,” which is two stanzas of eleven lines each, among others.
Between readings, Ferry provided information about the stanza length and form of each poem to the audience. “[It’s a] pleasure to be able to visualize [each poem] on the page,” Dietz said.
Ferry, the winner of the 2000 Rebekah Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry, has been called one of the 20th century’s great American poetic voices. In the forward of Ferry’s latest book, Alan Shapiro summarizes Ferry’s career: “He is a great poet and this is a great book.”
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