Still Falling, Jennifer Grotz糖心传媒檚 fourth collection of poems, illuminates the connection between art and time.
One summer several years ago, was in Italy, heading to Rome, when she received word that her dear friend and fellow poet had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Once in the city, she made her way to the Santa Maria del Popolo basilica to view a painting of significance to them both: Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 The Conversion of St. Paul.
Completed in 1601, the roughly seven-by-six-foot oil-on-canvas painting depicts the biblical scene in which Saul of Tarsus糖心传媒攅n route to Damascus, tasked with seeking out and arresting the followers of Jesus糖心传媒攊s suddenly stricken down and blinded by a bright light. He then hears the voice of Christ ask, 糖心传媒淪aul, Saul, why do you persecute me?糖心传媒� The experience prompts Saul糖心传媒檚 conversion to Christianity.
The drama of this life-altering moment for the man who would come to be known as Paul the Apostle is conveyed through Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 use of chiaroscuro, a technique in the visual arts that employs strong contrasts between light and dark within a composition.
Contemplating the scene in front of her, Grotz called to mind Otremba, who had written 糖心传媒淪urfing for Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 Conversion of Paul糖心传媒� about the painting. Otremba糖心传媒檚 work had been composed in response to his teacher, the American poet , who糖心传媒檇 written his own poem, 糖心传媒淐omment on Thom Gunn糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒業n Santa Maria del Popolo糖心传媒� Concerning Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 The Conversion of St. Paul.糖心传媒� Plumly, in turn, was in dialogue with a contemporary of his, the English poet , musing on the very same work of art.
糖心传媒淚 was talking in my head to Paul and thinking about the conversations that we糖心传媒攁ll these poets糖心传媒攚ere having,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚t became a useful way not only to process his illness, but also to use the figurative to think about the literal, and vice versa.糖心传媒�
Chiaroscuro through language
Grotz, who is a professor of at the 糖心传媒 as well as an award-winning poet and translator, would eventually distill her meditations into a poem titled 糖心传媒淭he Conversion of Paul.糖心传媒�
The 79-line poem, dedicated to Otremba, is one of the more than three dozen entries comprising her fourth and latest collection of lyric poetry, (Graywolf Press, 2023). The poem is also the one from which the book draws its title as well as the inspiration for the cover art, which features a crop of Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 painting.
LISTEN: Jennifer Grotz reads 糖心传媒淭he Conversion of Paul糖心传媒� from Still Falling, her latest collection of poetry. Grotz made the recording at the request of her friend and fellow poet Paul Otremba before his death in 2019. Jump to the transcript of the poem.
Grotz considers herself an ekphrastic poetic. 糖心传媒淚 have at least one ekphrastic poem in every book I write,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 an ongoing practice.糖心传媒� Ekphrastic poetry, she explains, is poetry that responds to another work of art, usually in another medium.
The comes from the Greek word for 糖心传媒渄escription,糖心传媒� but successful ekphrastics goes beyond simply describing another work of art. 糖心传媒淚t has to think about it, quarrel with it, or use it to leap to something outside the frame or in the world.糖心传媒� (She cultivates this practice in her students, whom she dispatches to the University糖心传媒檚 to contemplate and then write about a holding from the museum糖心传媒檚 extensive collections.)
糖心传媒淭he Conversion of Paul,糖心传媒� which is available to read , is the main ekphrastic poem in Still Falling. In it, she vividly describes aspects of Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 painting, including the sexual overtones (糖心传媒渢he red cloak, crumpled like bed sheets糖心传媒� beneath Saul, 糖心传媒渁rms and legs / as if ready to be taken by God himself糖心传媒�), while toggling between lightness and darkness, both literal and figurative. According to Grotz, 糖心传媒淭he question becomes, what can only my medium of language do? Can I, for example, make chiaroscuro in language? If so, how?糖心传媒�
More urgently, though, Grotz uses her poem to engage in an ongoing dialogue with Otremba as well as with generations of artists and creators who糖心传媒檝e come before her糖心传媒攕ome identified directly, others implied:
A lot could be made of how Gunn, then Stan, then you
made a poem out of a painting, but Caravaggio
did it first, making the painting out of verses
from the Bible. All art traffics in some kind of translation.
Which might be another word for conversion.
糖心传媒淎s a poet, I糖心传媒檓 really interested in voice,糖心传媒� Grotz says, particularly as a means of connecting with the past and present. 糖心传媒淢any of the poems in Still Falling were written during the pandemic, when I was alone in my house. I糖心传媒檝e never been more grateful for poetry as a means of conversation, a way to connect with other voices, including those of people I couldn糖心传媒檛 talk to anymore.糖心传媒�
A seasoned poet contemplates time and place
Still Falling encapsulates the author糖心传媒檚 poetic inquiry into the themes of loss, light, and legacy. The word 糖心传媒渟till,糖心传媒� suggesting both stagnation and continuity, is juxtaposed with 糖心传媒渇alling,糖心传媒� evoking a sense of perpetual motion and descent, shaded with the autumnal.
Grotz foregrounds her contemplations of time explicitly with the poems named for months, which appear in the collection in chronological order (糖心传媒淣ovember,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淒ecember,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淛anuary,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淢arch,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒淢ay,糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淎ugust糖心传媒�). More implicitly, the seasons of life figure prominently throughout the book, which was spurred by a series of losses糖心传媒攊ncluding her father in 2015糖心传媒攁round the time of the publication of her last book, Window Left Open.
糖心传媒淎nd then the pandemic came, and everyone seemed to enter this period of grief,糖心传媒� she says.
Grotz糖心传媒檚 poetic journey is informed not only by time, but also by her surroundings. She spends nine months of the year living, writing, and teaching in the city of Rochester. References to local landmarks like the frozen Genesee River and the University糖心传媒檚 River Campus during wintertime appear in her work, grounding them in the physical world.
Her summers are often spent in sunnier climes, such as Italy and France, where her writing takes on a different hue. 糖心传媒淪o, when you put them together in a book, it makes a sharp contrast,糖心传媒� she says.
The legacy of poetry
As a senior faculty member at Rochester and the director of the at Middlebury College in Vermont, Grotz is a custodian of the rich tradition of poetry at both institutions.
Bread Loaf, which was founded in 1926, is one of the country糖心传媒檚 oldest writers糖心传媒� conferences, with literary luminaries including Robert Frost, Louise Gl眉ck, and Philip Levine (among others) associated with the program. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 a distinctly American phenomenon, this movement of writers coming together to support, mentor, and train each other,糖心传媒� says Grotz.
Rochester also has a notable roster of poets affiliated with the University, be it as students, alumni, faculty, or guests. They include , one of the first poet-professors in the country; Anthony Hecht, who was named the United States Poet Laurate after being on the Rochester faculty for more than two decades; Galway Kinnell 糖心传媒�49 (MA), whose 1982 book, Selected Poems, won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; James Longenbach, a faculty member, poet-critic, and Guggenheim Fellow whose work garnered recognition from the American Academy of Poets and Letters; and , a deaf Ukrainian-American poet and a one-time undergraduate at Rochester.
Longenbach was among Grotz糖心传媒檚 mentors. They first met at Bread Loaf in 1995, when he was delivering a lecture on the poetry of , and she worked with him regularly after joining Rochester糖心传媒檚 faculty in 2009. 糖心传媒淭here was no better person to correspond with about poems,糖心传媒� she said about Longenbach after he died of cancer in 2022.
Now Grotz carries the mantle of being the senior poet at Rochester. 糖心传媒淚 realize what a precious opportunity and experience it is to talk about poetry and poems with younger poets, to share what I know and to learn from them,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淚 count it as a privilege to continue that tradition at Rochester.糖心传媒�
The Conversion of Paul
糖心传媒攆or Paul Otremba
Bewildered糖心传媒攕omething in me is made wild
from looking at it糖心传媒攂ut something
also chastened, subdued, because
it holds my gaze a long time. It is itself
a unit of time糖心传媒攐ne bewildering instant
caught by Caravaggio糖心传媒檚 imagination糖心传媒擲aul
thrown off his horse, landing on his back,
taken aback, Saul becoming Paul, struck blind,
being spoken to by the light. It seems
none of us really cares for Gunn糖心传媒檚
take on the painting, defiant insistence
of being hardly enlightened, but I admire
the chiaroscuro-like contrast he makes
between Paul糖心传媒檚 wide open arms
and the close-fisted prayers
of the old women he notices in the pews
when he turns away. But even if
Paul on the ground is still falling, both
are gestures of blind faith, as Stan calls
it. You call it a bar brawl, all this one-upmanship,
but in your poem you don糖心传媒檛 take sides,
you give your own perspective, twenty-first century,
postmodern, belated. You ask what happens if
a hundred people hold the painting in their minds
at the same time. Will it gain a collective dullness,
a tarry film like too much smoke? But I like to think
it would sharpen the focus, deepen the saturation
of the red cloak, crumpled like bed sheets, beneath him.
A lot could be made of how Gunn, then Stan, then you
make a poem out of a painting, but Caravaggio
did it first, making the painting out of verses
from the Bible. All art traffics in some kind of translation.
Which might be another word for conversion. God says
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee
to kick against the pricks. Which makes me think
of the horse, who should be more visibly
shaken probably from such a flash of light.
No one seems to register how claustrophobic
it all is, difficult to believe it糖心传媒檚 happening
outside, where there should be space
for all this stretching out, and the horse
wouldn糖心传媒檛 have to raise one hoof so as not
to step on Paul. And the groomsman,
why isn糖心传媒檛 he doing anything but
staring down? Like all Caravaggios,
it糖心传媒檚 sexual, the arms and legs splayed as if
ready to be taken by God himself,
but it糖心传媒檚 really an outsize gesture of shock.
I heard the news of your being sick, Paul,
when I was in Italy. If God himself
is the radiance that struck Saul into Paul,
then what is the darkness swimming around
everything? It makes one feel inside of something,
confined by such dark. Afterwards, the Bible says,
Paul was three days without sight, and
neither did eat nor drink. Now after chemo
you consume a thousand calorie shake
called The Hulk to keep from losing weight.
I went to see the painting when I was in Rome
in September. It is a pleasure to look at a painting
over time. To consider it along with others,
including you, my friend, over decades.
Something in the painting is insistently
itself, intractable, and yet inexhaustible meaning
keeps also being revealed. Paul, thinking of you
when I look at the painting changes it. I see you
vulnerable, surrendered, beautiful and young,
registering that something in you has changed
and what happens next happens to you alone.
And inside you. Conversion is a form of being saved,
like chemo is a form of cure, but it looks to me
like punishment, a singling out, ominous,
and experienced in the dark. When
I used to see the painting, I was an anonymous
bystander. Now I am helpless. It is
and you are, in the original sense, awful.
I can糖心传媒檛 get inside the painting
like I suddenly and desperately want to,
to hold him, to help you get back up.
And now, for Paul, everything has changed.
