Reviewed on 9/3/2025
★★★★★
In “Is This My Last Ferry Trip,” Martha Silano explores death in the mundane. Set on a normal afternoon, the speaker mediates her last ferry trip as she passes by “guys in their neon-yellow slickers” and “black suspenders.” Her wonderings are not mixed with regret or anger, but rather peaceful acceptance. The poem recounts her observations, eating “Ivar’s clam chowder” because “the nutritionist ordered.” She also adds playfulness to the narrative — “her personal representative,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Vronsky and Anna.” Silano gives the reader details from everyday. She hints to us that death does not take place in thunder or storm, but forgettable afternoons like this.
The poem then adds her daughter to the narrative, who asks them to “take pictures of things.” The speaker already feels like a memory, someone in a movie montage. In her departure from the world, perhaps through words and photographs, she preserves this last warmth. The last stanzas bring us back to the terminal reality — “we almost forget one of us is dying.” Their anonymity highlights at this moment, death is nothing more than a passing future; they firmly choose life and joy.
Full Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/1626380/is-this-my-last-ferry-trip
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