One Way to Reconstruct the Scene

Yale Series of Younger Poets

by William Virgil Davis

Richard Hugo has selected William Virgil Davis's One Way to Reconstruct the Scene as the 1979 winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. In his foreword to the volume Hugo "William Virgil Davis is a poet who, when he writes, contends with a loving self who wants to render the world as found. His battle is the classic one, the memory versus the imagination. . . . 'Memory is the first property of loss,' Davis tells us, and that may be true. At least it is worth considering. Certainly a scene, no matter how initially unattractive, reconstructed lovingly in active language posing as passive recall is a true property of gain. Davis believes in and works to create a world we can humanely attend the second time around, and his poems often provide that second chance."

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

Published September 10, 1980

Reviews

[Inverted · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't quite understand why I like this book, which is perhaps the best compliment I can give to any work I have not fallen in love with. Perhaps it has something to do with how the poems move or stay still. Or how Davis manages to make the unsaid the poem, which is a difficult task to pull off, let alone envision.

[Jam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really dig William Virgil Davis's voice and use of metaphor. Some of the symbolism (especially the recurring mention of bones) went over my head upon first reading. Nevertheless, most of the poems were enjoyable. Here is one of my favorites:

Property of Loss

If you can't find the book or your face
in the mirrored morning above your razor,
take a turn in the garden. There
the mock orange, grown out of all control,
stands brazen in her own perfume, attracting
winged insects. She takes no notice
how a butterfly with a beautiful eyespot
is killed by the cat not four feet away.

You must try to remember what it all
reminds you of... How many years
has it been since you took up the pipe?
Not even the teeth remember. Memory
is the first property of loss.
When you reach and take your handkerchief
from your pocket, will you notice
how the image imprinted on it,
like your shadow on the sidewalk before you
when you step from a darkened doorway
into the sunlight, fits perfectly
against the confines of your face?

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read. The lines are carefully drawn to show how strange ordinary turns of phrase can be. The family poems and the bone poems delight me the most—show us how images are just a few strokes away from an epic narrative if you look at them a slanted way.

[Claire Casso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Former professor. Great collection of poems.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 D2654o 1980