still fallingJennifer Grotz’s fourth collection of poems reveals the relationship between art and time.
A few summers ago, Jennifer Grotz was in Italy heading to Rome when she received the news that her close friend and fellow poet Paul Otremba had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Once in town, she headed to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo, where she saw a painting by Caravaggio that was important to them both. Conversion of St. Paul.
Completed in 1601, this approximately 7-by-6-foot oil painting on canvas depicts the Biblical scene in which Saul of Tarsus suddenly collapses while on his way to Damascus, tasked with finding and arresting the followers of Jesus. I’m drawing. Blinded by bright light. Then he hears the voice of Christ asking, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” This experience prompted Saul’s conversion to Christianity.
The drama of this life-changing moment for the man who would later become known as the Apostle Paul is conveyed through Caravaggio’s use of chiaroscuro, a visual art technique that uses strong contrasts of light and dark within a composition.
As Grotz reflected on the scene before him, he remembered Otremba, who wrote “Caravaggio’s Surfing.” conversion of paul”About the picture. Otremba’s work was in response to his teacher, the American poet Stanley Plumley, who wrote his poem “Comments on Thom Gunn’s “At Santa Maria del Popolo” on the work of Caravaggio.” It was composed by Conversion of St. PaulPlumley, in turn, spoke to his contemporary, the British poet Thom Gunn, and mused on the very same work of art.
“I was talking to Paul in my head and thinking about the conversations that all of us poets were having,” she says. “It became a convenient way not only to treat his illness, but also to think metaphorically and literally, and vice versa.”
Linguistic chiaroscuro
Grotz, an English professor at the University of Rochester and an award-winning poet and translator, ultimately distilled her meditations into a poem titled “The Conversion of Paul.”
This 79-line poem dedicated to Otremba is one of more than 30 pieces that make up her fourth and latest collection of lyric poems. still falling (Greywolf Publishing, 2023). This poem not only gives the book its title, but is also the inspiration for the cover art, which features some of Caravaggio’s paintings.
listen: Jennifer Grotz will read “Paul’s Conversion” from her latest poetry collection, Still Falling. Grotz made this recording at the request of her friend and fellow poet Paul Otremba before her death in 2019. Jump to poem transcript.
Grotz considers himself a mad poet. “Every book I write includes at least one enthusiastic poem of hers,” she says. “It’s an ongoing practice.” Enthusiastic poetry is poetry that responds to another work of art, usually another medium, she explains.
Although the term comes from the Greek word meaning “explanation,” a successful ephrastic does more than simply describe another work of art. “You have to think about it, you have to fight with it, you have to use it to jump outside the box and into something in the world.” (I send students to university memorial museums to ponder and write about the museum’s vast collections.)
“The Conversion of Paul” can be read on her website and is the church’s major rhapsody poem. still falling. In it, she describes sexual overtones (“the red cloak crumpled like a bed sheet” under Saul, “his arms and legs as if ready to be taken by God himself”). This painting vividly depicts aspects of Caravaggio’s paintings, including the lightness of the painting. and literal and figurative darkness. Grotz said: “The question is, what can only my linguistic medium do? For example, can I create chiaroscuro with language? If so, how?”
But more urgently, Grotz uses her poetry to engage in an ongoing dialogue not only with Otremba but also with generations of artists and creators who came before her. Some directly identify, others suggest:
There are many possible explanations for what happened to Gunn, Stan, and you.
Caravaggio created poems from paintings.
First I made a picture from a poem
From the Bible. All art circulates in some form of translation.
This may be another word for transformation.
“As a poet, I’m really interested in voice,” Grotz says, especially as a means of connecting past and present. “Many of the poems are still falling These were written while I was home alone during the pandemic. I have never appreciated poetry so much as a means of conversation and a way to connect with the voices of others, including those who can no longer speak. ”
A master poet ponders time and place
still falling It encapsulates the author’s poetic exploration of themes of loss, light, and heritage. The word “stillness” suggests both stagnation and continuity, and is juxtaposed with “falling”, evoking a sense of eternal movement and descent in autumnal hues.
Grotz explicitly foregrounds his contemplation of time with poems named after the months. These poems are presented in the collection in chronological order (“November,” “December,” “January,” “March,” “May,” and “August”). More implicitly, the seasons of her life are prominent throughout the book, precipitated by a series of losses, including her father in 2015, around the time of the publication of her last book. window left open.
“Then the pandemic happened and everyone seemed to go into this period of grief,” she says.
Grotz’s poetic journey is influenced not only by time but also by her surroundings. She spends nine months of her year living, writing, and teaching in the city of Rochester. References to local landmarks such as the frozen Genesee River during the winter and the university’s river campus appear in her work, rooting them in the physical world.
Her summers are often spent in areas with sunny climates such as Italy and France, where her writing takes on a different hue. “So putting them together in a book creates a sharp contrast,” she says.
legacy of poetry
As a senior faculty member at the University of Rochester and director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College in Vermont, Mr. Grotz is a custodian of the rich poetic traditions of both universities.
Founded in 1926, Bread Loaf is one of the oldest writers’ conferences in the country, and literary luminaries such as Robert Frost, Louise Gluck, and Philip Levine have participated in its programs. “This is clearly a uniquely American phenomenon, this movement of writers coming together to support and mentor and train each other,” Grotz says.
“I realize what a valuable opportunity and experience it is to talk to young poets about poetry and poetry, to share what I know, and to learn from them. ”
Rochester also has a roster of distinguished poets affiliated with the university, including students, alumni, faculty, and guests. Among them is Hyam Przyk, one of the country’s first poets and professors. Anthony Hecht was named U.S. Poet Laureate after more than 20 years as a Rochester faculty member. Galway Kinnell ’49 (Massachusetts), 1982; carefully selected poems, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. James Longenbach is a teacher, poet, critic, and Guggenheim Fellow recognized by the Academy of American Poets and Letters for his work. and Ilya Kaminsky, a deaf Ukrainian-American poet who was once on the faculty of the University of Rochester.
Longenbach was one of Grotz’s leaders. The two first met in 1995 while giving a lecture on Jorie Graham’s poetry at Breadloaf. They continued to work together regularly after she joined the University of Rochester in 2009. “I couldn’t have asked for a better person to correspond with about poetry,” she said. About Longenbach, who passed away from cancer in 2022.
Grotz currently holds the role of senior poet at the University of Rochester. “She realizes what a valuable opportunity and experience it is to talk to young poets about poetry and poetry, to share what she knows, and to learn from them.” To tell. “We are honored to carry on that tradition in Rochester,” she said.
conversion of paul
—For Paul Otremba
I’m confused, something inside me is raging
But when I look at it, something
And because he was chastised and subdued;
It holds my gaze for a long time.is itself
A unit of time, a dizzying moment
Saul captured by Caravaggio’s imagination
I was thrown from my horse and landed on my back.
I was surprised, Saul becomes Paulblinded;
You can talk to the light.guess so
None of us really care about cancer
undertake painting with a rebellious assertion
of being hardly enlightenedbut I respect you
The chiaroscuro contrast he creates
Between Paul’s outstretched arms
and close prayer
He noticed the old ladies at the seats.
when he turned his back.However, even if
Paul on the ground still fallingboth
is the gesture of blind faithas Stan calls it
that.you do it bar brawlall this one-upmanship,
But in your poems you don’t take sides.
You give your own perspective, 21st century,
Lately postmodern. When asked what would happen if this happened,
100 people have that picture in their heads
at the same time. Will we collectively become dull?
Is it a tarry film with too much smoke? But I like thinking
Sharpen focus and deepen saturation
Beneath him was a red cloak, crumpled like a bed sheet.
There are many possible explanations for what happened to Gunn, Stan, and you.
Caravaggio makes poetry from pictures
First I made a picture from a poem
From the Bible. All art circulates in some form of translation.
This may be another word for transformation.God says
Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?it’s hard for you
kick against the thorns.it makes me think
A horse that should stand out more
Perhaps such a flash made him tremble.
No one seems to realize how claustrophobic it is
It’s all hard to believe it’s happening
outdoors, where there should be space
For all this stretch and horses
You don’t have to lift a single hoof to prevent that from happening.
Step on the pole. and the groom’s attendants,
why doesn’t he do anything
Are you looking down? Like all Caravaggio,
It’s sexual, as if the arms and legs are spread out
Ready to be accepted by God Himself,
But it’s actually an extraordinary gesture of shock.
I heard about your illness, Paul.
When I was in Italy.If God Himself
It was the brightness that struck Saul against Paul,
So what is the darkness swimming in?
all? It makes one feel something inside,
Trapped in such darkness. Then the Bible says:
Pole I couldn’t see for 3 days,
didn’t eat or drink.after chemotherapy
you consume 1000 calories of shake
He was called the Hulk because he didn’t want to lose weight.
I went to see that painting when I went to Rome.
During September.It’s fun to look at the pictures
over time. When we consider this together with others,
For decades, including you, my friend.
Something in the picture is drawn relentlessly
In itself, untouchable, but inexhaustible meaning.
continues to be revealed.Paul, I’m thinking of you.
It changes when you look at the picture.i see you
Vulnerable, surrendered, beautiful, young;
let me know that something has changed inside me
And what happens next happens to you alone.
And inside you. To transform is to be preserved.
Chemotherapy is like a type of therapy, but it looks like that to me
like punishment, like reproach, ominous,
And I experienced it in the dark.when
I looked closely at that picture, I was anonymous
bystander. Now I’m helpless.it is
And you are a terrible person in every sense of the word.
not included in the picture
Suddenly and desperately,
To hug him, to help you stand up.
And now everything has changed for Paul.
