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Poetry is undergoing a resurgence in
the United States. Poetry Slams, Hip Hop, and spoken word performances bring out
younger audiences. Baxter Black, Billy Collins, Garrison Keillor and the Poetry
Foundation bring attention to the more traditional forms. Poetry is shaking off
its fusty old clothes and venturing out from the university classrooms to take
its place back in our homes, churches and bar rooms.
It's no wonder. Long ago poetry
started out as entertaining speech. People around fires would transform stories,
jokes or adventures into verse as a way to share and remember the lessons of the
day. In the western tradition these early poets were called singers: part news
anchor, spiritual advisor and Paul Revere. Singers were indispensable.
Sitka has a new singer in Jim
Drury. His second book of poetry is called "Do Not Dismiss What Is" and on its
pages Drury sings of his town, his own changes here, and his faith in God with a
brimming heart and a keen eye for the telling detail.
Much of the material is drawn
from his experience as Sitka's Lutheran ministry. He recounts his service to
people in grief and joy. Yet there is not a hint of sanctimony in these poems,
for he writes equally well of his own human frailty.
Drury takes risks, for it's
always a risk when someone exposes complex feelings, but he never gives in to
the cheap trick of self aggrandizing speech. Each poem is a gift to someone he
loves: grandchildren, parishioners, a new wife, and they are offered up with
humility, because Drury always puts the objects of his affection in the
foreground of the poem and doesn't call undue attention to himself.
Sitkans should particularly enjoy
this book. They will recognize the atmosphere on a quiet boat at anchor, or a
street scene upon encountering a friend. Drury's poems owe a great deal to his
dedication to this place and the people who call it home. Though he sometimes
moves toward the sentimental, these missteps are balanced out by details which
bring a rich and complex world into focus.
What is most striking is Drury's
fearless expression of faith. The Christian faith rendered in these poems is
quiet, yet confident. He has a calming voice in this age of opinionated bombast.
He makes assertions and asks questions where others may boom out their opinions.
He is no proselytizer, but he is unafraid to make a good case for his beliefs,
which, like these poems, seem complex, nuanced and informed by love.
This new national interest in
poetry has made room for poets like Jim Drury. He is deeply rooted in the local
yet his poems are universal in scope. He brings the good news and the bad, with
humility and good humor. We are lucky, and maybe something a bit more, that he
has become one of our indispensable singers. --
John Straley.
(The review appeared in the
Daily Sitka Sentinel, Sitka, Alaska,
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, p. 7) |
