The Alchemy of Grief: Poems by Emily Ferrara

Emily Ferrara

a poetry of healing

The Alchemy of Grief is a collection of poetry by Emily Ferrara, available from Amazon.com or directly from the publisher Bordighera Press. Ferrara's collection won the 2006 Bordighera Poetry Prize and was published in bilingual translation (English & Italian) in November 2007. Read related articles in the Connecticut Post and the Worcester Telegram.

About the Author

Emily Ferrara is Assistant Professor of Family Medicine and Community Health at University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she teaches creative writing and doctor-patient communication skills. Winner of the Bordighera Poetry Prize in 2006 for her first collection of poems, The Alchemy of Grief, her poetry has been featured in UU World, Lumina, Worcester Review, Family Medicine, VIA (Voices in Italian Americana), scene4magazine and Ballard Street Poetry Journal, among other publications and anthologies. A member of “PoemWorks: Workshop for Publishing Poets,” she has received awards from the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, and the Worcester County Poetry Association. Ferrara’s work engages subjects intrinsic to the human experience and the transcendent, including themes of love, loss, personal and professional identity, the illness experience, death and dying, and transformation. She is featured, along with translator Sabine Pascarelli, in the winter 2008 season of “The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress,” a radio series available through Public Radio Satellite Service via National Public Radio distribution. She earned a BS in Communications from Boston University, and a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Lesley University. Born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Ferrara lives with her wife and daughter in Worcester, Massachusetts.

About the Translator

Sabine Pascarelli grew up in Germany where she earned a degree in German language and literature at Dortmund University. She authors literature for children; her most recent book, published in Germany, is Glenscheck & Co. She has won fiction awards, from La Spezia, Italy and most recently, Mirabilia, in 2006. She has published her poems in various anthologies in both English and Italian, in Only the Sea Keeps for Bayeux Editions and in Il Litorale, Città di Salò, and Pensieri di Donne. Her poems have recently appeared in Arabesques Review (2007). She works as a translator of English, Italian, and German; many of her translations have been published by Italian publishing houses. Pascarelli lives in Tuscany with her husband Salvatore and their two sons, Marco and Claudio.

Sabine Pascarelli and Emily Ferrara in Florence, Italy, 2008.

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Reviews for

The Alchemy of Grief:

“In her exquisite first collection of poems, Emily Ferrara reveals the unexpected power of regeneration at the core of a grieving mother’s heart. From the initial hot coals of loss to her final vision of God’s force, these poems take us on a journey of transformation. Catalyzed by nature, faith, family and friendship, written in a voice that is stunning and direct, Ferrara weaves her magic with the language of poetry. These poems convince me, that in Ferrara’s skilled hands, we truly have a poetry of healing.” – Richard M. Berlin, MD, physician and poet, author of How JFK Killed My Father

“This is excellently controlled craftsmanship, conveying deeply felt emotion. The grief of loss is sharply poignant and real, yet never maudlin or self-indulgent. The music of the lines is subtle and fine. The tension between the controlled craft and the poignancy of the theme makes the reader participate in the poems and feel with the poet, sharing the human despair and transcendent emotions that bring us through to survival.” – Daniela Gioseffi, 2006 Bordighera Prize contest judge

“True to its title, The Alchemy of Grief is a book of mystical transformations. The leaden weight of unthinkable loss is transmuted into the precious quicksilver of remembrance and survival, while the plainsong of Anglo-Saxon is translated into operatic Italian. Emily Ferrara thus shows us all that it means to be a healer: giver of life, lover despite death, and speaker of the truth that between these we can measure only the slightest difference, which is infinite beauty.”– Rafael Campo, MD, physician and poet