{"id":593662,"date":"2024-02-20T07:56:27","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T12:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=593662"},"modified":"2024-02-20T12:11:35","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T17:11:35","slug":"still-falling-poems-meditation-on-loss-light-legacy-593662","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/still-falling-poems-meditation-on-loss-light-legacy-593662\/","title":{"rendered":"A poet\u2019s meditation on loss, light, and legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Still Falling<\/em>, Jennifer Grotz\u2019s fourth collection of poems, illuminates the connection between art and time.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One summer several years ago, Jennifer Grotz<\/a> was in Italy, heading to Rome, when she received word that her dear friend and fellow poet Paul Otremba<\/a> 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\u2019s The Conversion of St. Paul<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Completed in 1601, the roughly seven-by-six-foot oil-on-canvas painting depicts the biblical scene in which Saul of Tarsus\u2014en route to Damascus, tasked with seeking out and arresting the followers of Jesus\u2014is suddenly stricken down and blinded by a bright light. He then hears the voice of Christ ask, \u201cSaul, Saul, why do you persecute me?\u201d The experience prompts Saul\u2019s conversion to Christianity.<\/p>\n

The drama of this life-altering moment for the man who would come to be known as Paul the Apostle is conveyed through Caravaggio\u2019s use of chiaroscuro, a technique in the visual arts that employs strong contrasts between light and dark within a composition.<\/p>\n

\"Diptych
Still Falling<\/em> encapsulates Jennifer Grotz\u2019s poetic inquiry into the themes of loss, light, and legacy. \u201cMany of the poems in Still Falling<\/em> were written during the pandemic. I\u2019ve never been more grateful for poetry as a means of conversation, a way to connect with other voices.\u201d \u00a0(Book cover art: Ann Sudmeier. Author photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Contemplating the scene in front of her, Grotz called to mind Otremba, who had written \u201cSurfing for Caravaggio\u2019s Conversion of Paul<\/em>\u201d about the painting. Otremba\u2019s work had been composed in response to his teacher, the American poet Stanley Plumly<\/a>, who\u2019d written his own poem, \u201cComment on Thom Gunn\u2019s \u2018In Santa Maria del Popolo\u2019 Concerning Caravaggio\u2019s The Conversion of St. Paul<\/em>.\u201d Plumly, in turn, was in dialogue with a contemporary of his, the English poet Thom Gunn<\/a>, musing on the very same work of art.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was talking in my head to Paul and thinking about the conversations that we\u2014all these poets\u2014were having,\u201d she says. \u201cIt became a useful way not only to process his illness, but also to use the figurative to think about the literal, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiaroscuro through language<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Grotz, who is a professor of English<\/a> at the University of Rochester<\/a> as well as an award-winning poet and translator, would eventually distill her meditations into a poem titled \u201cThe Conversion of Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n

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, Still Falling<\/em><\/a> (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\u2019s painting.<\/p>\n

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LISTEN:<\/strong> Jennifer Grotz reads \u201cThe Conversion of Paul\u201d 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<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n