By Jordan Nettles. Special to the Clarion-Ledger Sunday print edition (February 25)
In Mississippi, 47 poems by Ann Fisher-Wirth and 47 color photographs by Maude Schuyler Clay delve into the history, culture, and ecology of the state of Mississippi. The book is a gorgeous large-format hardback, with equally stunning words and images inside.
Both Fisher-Wirth and Clay have spent much of their lives in Mississippi. Clay is a seventh-generation Mississippian and Fisher-Worth has lived in the state for 30 years. Fisher-Worth, born in Washington D.C., has taught at the University of Mississippi since first moving to Mississippi in 1988. She has written scholarly works and books of poems, including Dream Cabinet, Carta Marina, Five Terraces, and Blue Window. Clay, born in Greenwood, Mississippi, has had photos published in Esquire, Fortune, and Vanity Fair, and included in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art. She is also the photographer of Delta Land and Delta Dogs, both published by University Press of Mississippi. During their time in Mississippi, Fisher-Wirth and Clay have gathered visual and linguistic experiences that are revealed in their poems and photographs.
Each poem in Mississippi is matched with a photo, both pieces working together to tell a story of Mississippi. Fisher-Wirth has said that most of the poems in the book were written to accompany a photograph previously taken by Clay. Fisher-Wirth then penned poems “spoken in voices of fictive characters” that suggested themselves to her as she pondered the photos. Although fictitious, the voices sometimes cross with important events of Mississippi and American history, such as the Civil Rights Movement. There are poems dealing with the murder of Emmett Till and other tragedies that occurred during the same time period. Other poems in the books are inspired by students, neighbors, and other Mississippians that Fisher-Wirth has known personally. The voices represented are as varied as Mississippi itself, racially and socioeconomically.
Fisher-Wirth and Clay explore several facets of Mississippi, including how race and the environment interact. The book stresses that, “Mississippi suffers from severe environmental degradation that cannot be separated from its history of poverty and racial oppression.” Despite this difficult history and inherent complexity, the natural beauty of Mississippi can’t be denied. Also undeniable is the beauty of Mississippi’s identity–an identity that’s made up of many unique voices that are honored and explored in this book. True reflections of the beauty and complexity in Mississippi, the poems and photos will likely feel familiar to native Mississippians and will provide a glimpse into the realities of Mississippi to non-natives.
Although voice is an important part of Mississippi, actual Mississippians are only the subject of one photograph. Instead, most of the photos capture awe-inspiring sights in nature and every-day objects that Mississippians will recognize. Included are images of swamps, open fields, trees, falling-apart buildings, dogs, and the interiors of quintessentially Southern homes. A personal favorite photo depicts a type of hide away built into the side of a hill in the woods. Haunting and captivating, the photos are authentic representations of what it feels like to be part of Mississippi.
The epigraph for the book is taken from Theodore Roethke’s “North American Sequence”: “The imperishable quiet at the heart of form.” The quietness in Clay’s photos influenced Fisher-Wirth as she listened for voices to use in her poems. Likewise, Mississippi invites the reader to listen for those voices and to reflect on the stories at the heart of the poems and photographs.
Mississippi is a stunning testament to the spirit of Mississippi.
Jordan Nettles is a graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi and the Columbia Publishing Course in New York. She is marketing assistant at University Press of Mississippi in Jackson.
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