Fellowships Buy Time For One Local Writer

By Nancy K. Crevier

In an incredibly brief poem published in Where the Glories of April Lead, his 2001 collection, Charles Rafferty sums up both the classic writer’s frustration of never quite capturing the essence of a subject and his own humbleness as a poet. “Even a pond replete with auto parts/ repeats the evening better than my art,” read the two lines of On Seeing The Stars Reflected In The Pond Behind My Apartment Complex. And he never goes back to reread his own books of poetry, fearing the errors he could find, or revisions he would want to make.

But the Sandy Hook poet and author of four books of poetry (The Man on the Tower, winner of the 1994 Arkansas Poetry Award; Where the Glories of April Lead, During the Beauty of Shortage and A Less Fabulous Infinity), as well as numerous chapbooks that he says serve as a “staging area for books in progress,” has no reason to be humble. Mr Rafferty is the recipient of a 2009 Artists’ Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, as well as the 2009 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing, both awarded earlier this year.

A poet since his high school days when the “mystique of Jim Morrison and The Doors” initially interested him in the genre, Mr Rafferty published his first poem in the Piedmont Literary Revue in Virginia while in college. Now an editor for a technology consulting firm in Stamford, and a part time instructor of American literature and writing classes at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, he has kept a steady stream of writing going since his early successes.

What receiving the fellowships has done for him, he said, is not changed his approach to writing, but given him the luxury of time to write.

“The fellowships have insured that I can continue to write. I had been thinking about taking on extra teaching jobs, which would have taken away from writing time, but these have bought me that time,” Mr Rafferty said. “I was both surprised and pleased to receive these honors. They came at a good time,” he said.

His strategy for writing centers around using simile, rhythm, or imagery as the core of a poem, Mr Rafferty said. Then he looks to see if an idea can be shaped into a full-fledged poem, often using his time traveling to and from work on the train as an opportunity to write. When daily life quiets down each evening with his wife, Wendy, and his two daughters, Callan, 11, and Chatham, 8,  Mr Rafferty reworks the burgeoning poems, making it a point to write for a few hours before retiring.

Although the $5,000 Connecticut Commission award and the $25,000 NEA Fellowship could have funded a vacation to an exotic locale, Mr Rafferty does not travel afar for his inspirations. His poetry centers around ordinary observations of life and nature, as well as his family and friends. And by design, said Mr Rafferty, his poetry fits on one page. “I can control what is on one page,” he said.

“Daylight Moon,” from A Less Fabulous Infinity is an example of his ability to take an ordinary moment — observing the moon hanging in the daylight sky— and turn it into a series of unforgettable images, including: “You are the candy dissolving in a mouth of clear weather….”

His daughters are warned in “Advice for Beautiful Daughters Entering A World of Scoundrels” that “Except for me all men are liars.” The twist to his fatherly advice, however, lies in the ending lines of the poem: “…but know that they will fail, that anyone passing has successfully deceived you — as I have now, your flawed and steadfast father.”

Presently, Mr Rafferty is at work on his fifth book, tentatively titled Appetites.

“The book is in four sections, each with its own theme, and deals with all kinds of appetites. It is a collection of fables and tiny story poems,” he said, “with lots of quirky characters.”

His favorite way to experience poetry, his own or that of others’, is to hear it read out loud.

“Poetry is meant to be heard,” he said. For those who develop an “appetite” for Mr Rafferty’s poetry, he is planning to take part in the Mad River Poetry Festival in Winsted in March 2010. His four books are available online at amazon.com.

“I write the poems primarily for myself, not for the money,” said Mr Rafferty. “I would continue to write, even if no one ever bought the books. I do want to write good books and have people read them, though,” he said.