David Ray

Sam’s Book

David Ray

<P>When Sam Ray was killed at nineteen in an accident, his father began writing poetry dedicated to his memory. Sam's Book is a collection of these elegies and other poems written during Sam's lifetime. «How should I mourn?» David Ray asks. By recalling poignant events from the past he transcends his grief. He remembers Sam's first bath, a «holy/Rite»; tying the shoelaces of the «little man»; traveling to Greece, where Sam is «the first…/to see the holy moon.» With painful wit and regret he summons up the image of his son's blue Toyota, fastidiously transformed by Sam and his girlfriend into a «love nest.» Ray muses on what he taught Sam and what Sam taught him. Originally published in 1987, Sam's Book won the 1988 Maurice English Poetry Award.</P>