HOME /  Poem :  A weekly poem, read by the author.

"Turning Eighty: A Birthday Poem"

By |Posted Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2004, at 7:14 AM ET

Listen to David Ferry reading this poem.

It is a breath-taking near-death experience.








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David Ferry is a poet, a translator of poetry, and a professor of English at Wellesley College.

Clickhere to visit Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project site.To submit poetry to Slate, send up to five poems and a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Robert Pinsky, Slate Magazine, Boston University, 236 Bay State Road, Boston, MA, 02215.