The McFerren Plot
It’s the rare poet who speaks in a personal voice, rarer still one with an original point of view, and rarest of all a poet with both. This collection, richly varied in technique and topic, buzzes and swarms like a cloud of bumblebees. Little Lulu rubs shoulders with Maud Gonne and Pocahontas, Helen of Troy with François Villon. But bees have patterns, and so does McFerren. Her great topic is elusive the way the past lingers in the present. She emphasizes the mystery of it—how we see it as a light that flickers and flits, never to be fully caught. McFerren masters several tones: wry, laugh-out-loud funny, epiphanic, vatic, romantic, and sharp by turns. Hang on to your hats and keys.
A deeply felt affection for experience dances through these exuberant poems whose surfaces delight as much as their hard-won truths. McFerren is a poet-choreographer whose words pull you in to join her dizzying routines.
-- Peter Cooley, author of 'The One Certain Thing'
I can think of no poet whose work I enjoy and look forward to more than Martha McFerren’s. Her offbeat intelligence, wry sense of humor, and unfailing humanity make every poem a journey worth taking. Don’t be surprised if you end up being taken to someplace you never expected to go, but end up feeling grateful for reaching that destination.
-- Joseph Bruchac, author of 'Four Directions
DVille Press proudly launches its River Poets Series with this wonderful volume that sets the bar for other Louisiana poets and their work.
About the author:
Martha McFerren received an MFA from Warren Wilson College and is the author of five books, including Women in Cars, for which she received the Marianne Moore Prize, and Archaeology at Midnight. Her poems have appeared in Georgia Review, Shenandoah, Southern Review, and many other journals and anthologies. She is the recipient of an Artist Fellowship in Literature by the Louisiana Arts Council, a Yaddo Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. She lives in New Orleans with her husband, woodturner Dennis Wall.
ISBN 978-1-7368172-1-6
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