Contours for Ritual conveys the quests and questionings of a refreshingly strong and quirky mind. Inspired by Martha McFerren’s travels in the British Isles and her explorations of prehistoric monuments, many of these poems have archaeological or anthropological themes. Some of the poems simply recount the predicaments of the exhausted tourist, while others portray what happens when modern mind meets hard, ancient rock.North is birds without color
and fish fermenting
in crevices along fjords,
and the sudden, astounding
evidence of wood
with its angelic grain;
where the wild hunt
that was never human
goes snarling along bracken
and the walls of those caves,
always in frozen flight. Although McFerren often finds herself contemplating the timelessness of a megalithic shrine or wandering down unmarked Irish roads, her poems express great presence of mind and humor. In “The Saga Continues,” McFerren takes a fall during her travels: Reinforced by Paddy’s
and a cane, I kept limping
another rainy week
through Lough Gur
and the crannogs,
since we bourgeoisie
can’t afford to dawdle.
Yes, history needs me. This is an unusual and consistently interesting collection of poems. The reader will take great pleasure in the clear, irreverent personality that radiates from Contours for Ritual.
Martha McFerren is the author of several books of poetry including: Women in Cars, Get Me Out of Here!, and Delusions Of A Popular Mind. Her poems have appeared in Georgia Review, Kansas Quarterly, The Literary Review, Missouri Review, Poetry Northwest, Southern Review, and many other journals. Her awards include fellowships from the NEA and the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Marianne Moore Prize.
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