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Sitkan's Poetry in Tune, by John Straley, Alaska Writer Laureate Jun 19, 2008
[Author's NOTE: I have John's permission and the Sitka Sentinel's editors to use John's review. Though it appears with my name as reviewer, the content is John Straley's. PS: Please read John's new book, "The Big Both Ways." Big Both Ways Signed
[Disclaimer: no "quid pro quo" exchanged for the review.]
REVIEW
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 adviser 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 book 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
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