The Best American Poetry

Love Sonnet by John Updike [by Moira Egan]

Love Sonnet

In Love's rubber armor I come to you;

                                                       b

                                                  oo

                                                        b.

                                                c,

                                                   d

                                                   c

                                                   d:

                                                e

                                               f--

                                                  e

                                                    f.

                                                       g

                                                    g.

[R.I.P.]

For your listening pleasure [by Moira Egan]

[another photo of Mark Strand & Damiano Abeni by Mario Ventura]

Just for fun, and/or if you happen to be studying Italian, you now have the opportunity to listen to two interviews with Mark and Damiano on RAI, the Italian national radio and TV network. Links below.

Mark Strand reads in Rome [by Moira Egan]

Damiano Abeni and Mark Strand (photo by Mario Ventura)

Well, that was fun! The Cultural Center Foundation of the St. Stephen's School was the setting for a very nice reading by Mark Strand. Reprising my role as reading-hostess-lady, I had the pleasure of introducing; then Mark and Damiano read, in English first, followed by Damiano's Italian translations. 

During the reading, I was standing over by the book table, looking out at the audience. It was wonderful to see, in addition to students, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and butchers, something like a Who's Who of contemporary Italian poets, writers, critics, and publishers. I had an irrational doom& gloom flash (I don't know, is it being Irish that puts these weird thoughts into my head?), similar to the one I had many years ago at the 92nd Street Y, when almost all of the poets who had each translated a Canto of the Inferno were in the same place at the same time: Please God don't let the ceiling fall in, what would we do for poetry?

Full Moon through Ruins [by Moira Egan]

And whew, what a spectacular full moon it was: moon at perigee and in Cancer (whose sign she rules, no less; and my sign, yes, I confess). 

Busy days here in Rome: many many polyglot parties. I think I've figured out a path toward instant improvement in my conversational fluency in Italian: try to speak French! It seems to work: try to speak a language that's been billiarding about in your head for what, 35 years now, and Hey presto, the one you sputter around in, day in and day out, often frustratedly, turns out to be the default. Really, in my next life, I'm going to be a neurophysiologist and draw up a map of where all this stuff happens in the brain: This is your brain on French. This is your brain on Italian. This is your brain on poetry. This is your brain on Kant.

Right now, this is my brain on tired and busy, if happily so. We Baltiromans are exceedingly happy that the only pro football team that's named after a poem is moving right along in the play-offs. (And I've been teaching Damiano how to say GO RAVENS in a Baltimore accent. He almost has it.) 

And really, as promised, Massimo Gezzi's interview with John Ashbery from POESIA. Soon. Meanwhile, buon anno!

The palm at the end of the holiday season [by Moira Egan]

And tomorrow is Epiphany.  What epiphanies have you had lately?

* * *

Coming this week: John Ashbery in Poesia (#234, to be exact).

Buon Anno [by Moira Egan]

Happy New Year from 2009 in Rome!!

Roman Holidays (ii) [by Moira Egan]

When I first saw the blue and white lights, I thought it was some weird reflection.

Roman Holidays [by Moira Egan]

Merry merry!!

Literary Rapallo: a mini-quiz [by Moira Egan]

 [Antico Castello in Rapallo harbor. The poet of question #1 lived in one of the houses up the hill]

1.  This Irish poet described Rapallo's coastline as a "thin line of broken mother-of-pearl along the water's edge" and spent much time writing (automatic and otherwise) in his Rapallo Notebooks.

a. Patrick Kavanagh

b. Austin Clarke

c. Padraig Mac Aodhagáin

d. William Butler Yeats

Strikes are general ... [by Moira Egan]

all over Italy.  

(Though I guess we're feeling somewhat blessed to be inundated with water rather than with fire, as has been happening in Greece.)

Tomorrow there will be another general strike: trains, buses, postal services, schools, pretty much everything will be completely shut down for four hours.  Air traffic, however, will be unaffected, in case you're planning to fly over here.  

But in tomorrow's manifestazione, there will also be a literary presence: lo "sciopero dell'autore" -- the authors' strike.  

Reading & Writing & [by Moira Egan]

[after the rain]

I just love Harvey Hix's "20 questions" idea for guest bloggery this week. It's so interesting to see the diversity of responses--and I'm looking forward to more of HLH's musings on his findings.

Meantime, I have a question to put out there as well. What do you read in bed? 

SLS @ KGB [by Moira Egan]

[the reddest image I could find!]

This just in from the Summer Literary Seminars: 

...now accepting applications for our brand new programs in Lithuania and Italy, and of course don't forget about our 2009 Unified Literary Contest.  

Additionally, please come join us this Friday, December 5th in New York City for an SLS Party.  SLS NYC Party.  No specific agenda: it's a party. Come meet the SLS people, including its founder, its leadership, its coordinators and assistants, many among its illustrious past faculty and participants… the works. Meet old friends, make new ones. Ask the SLS people questions about the SLS's past and future, about the former Soviet Union and present-day Russia and the difference between the two (if any); about Italy and Lithuania and Kenya and… all the rest of the places SLS might be planning to go to in the future. Stay until the wee hours of the morning on the time-hallowed premises of the venerable KGB Bar.

Some among the SLS people, back during the day of pre-modern history, had an unlovely opportunity to familiarize themselves with the inner décor of the non-NYC-based KGB – one has in mind, specifically, the stunningly ugly edifice on Kalyaeva St. 4, right off the Liteyny Pr., in old Leningrad-St. Petersburg – and you can count on this being a much more pleasant, festive, friendly occasion. Feel free to spread the word and bring your friends.

Additionally, good friends of SLS from The St. Petersburg Review will be on hand with copies of their second issue. As well, Programs Coordinator Mike Spry will be there with copies of his new collection of poetry (JACK, Snare Books).

December 5

KGB Bar
85 E 4th St.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 505-3360

9:00 pm-4:00 am

Po-postcard from Bogliasco [by Moira Egan]

[Just to show it's not all sun and games here in Bogliasco!]

But still, not complaining.  We had a rainy if festive weekend, and to answer Stacey's question, our Thanksgiving evening menu:

Primo: saffron risotto

Secondo: tasty tender beef cutlets

Contorni: grilled eggplant; fresh peas

Dolce: pear tart

Vino: cabernet franc

More on food below the fold!

Happy T-Day from Bogliasco [by Moira Egan]

[Morning view. Turn down that sun!]

Several people have asked if we're having a Thanksgiving dinner here this evening; I still don't know. Though most (not all) of the fellows and folks are Americans, the cook is Italian all right; either way, I'm sure we'll all be giving thanks for the meal.  We do know that we'll be having poetry for dessert. 

Po-Postcard from Rome [by Moira Egan]

Jorie Graham reading at the Centro Studi Americani last week.  Of course, we English-language-starved expat poets are delighted when poets like Jorie come to read in Rome.  But at Italian poetry events, be prepared for at least 45 minutes of critical discussion from various experts and professors who will explain to you what an important poet he/she is, and his/her place in the American canon, and and and -- and then the poet gets to read 6 or 7 poems if you are lucky.  Agh.  But I was very happy to hear her read "San Sepolcro" and a few other favorites.  

The week after-- [by Moira Egan]

["Veltroni, don't get any ideas" is the message of this poster, put up by Azione Giovani, representing the far-right. The guy was in the process of covering it with a Partito Democratico poster for a referendum to "save the schools" from the proposed, enormous cuts.]

Interesting times here in la bella Italia. Today there's a transit strike that was hardly publicized, leaving many people stuck wherever they were without warning. They usually have the good manners to inform the populace of their impending actions. There are no metro buses at all, so Damiano walked an hour to work this morning. So far today, I've seen no manifestazione passing by the apartment building, but the day's not over yet! There are plenty of videos on YouTube that show the potentially violent outcomes of these days of unrest, and then it seems that the right-wing kids got pissed off that they were shown on TV wielding pipes in the Piazza Navona, so they went over to try and wreak havoc at the RAI studios.

And I'm guessing that you've heard about Berlusconi's latest utterly stupid and inappropriate remark. 1573 comments on the New York Times blog at last count--most of them from Italians, apologizing. O Silvio --

In spite of all of this, you can feel the post-November-4th-collective sigh over here as well. Probably nine out of ten people whom you see spontaneously weeping in the streets are Americans, but the joy all around is nearly palpable. And Italy has always been good for "dolce vita" distractions, even in difficult times.

Festive Fall Outings [by Moira Egan]

[don't forget to vote!]

What better way to celebrate the weekend of Hallowe'en, All Saints' and All Souls' than to pay a visit to the Cimitero Acattolico per gli Stranieri, otherwise known as the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. For cheerful pictures of famous graves, follow the link.

Happy Hallowe'en (from Rome) [by Moira Egan]

[No! it's not a Hallowe'en party! It's teachers from L'Aquila wearing ass ears to protest proposed changes in education here in Italy (guess what: less money, fewer hours: "useless people" those teachers!]

Every day this week, we've had thunderstorms and protests. Students are occupying the schools. Thousands (hundreds of thousands, from the looks of things) are marching in the streets, in spite of thunder, lightning, and heavy heavy rains. "If nothing else, Berlusconi has really energized the populace," everyone is saying. Indeed. Though why they weren't so energized on election day here is another question ----

Autumn in Abruzzo [by Moira Egan]

One of the advantages of being married to the Italian translator of many Best American Poets is that I get to along for the weekend when the Poets win their Italian poetry prizes.

As I was taking this picture, a woman in the piazza suddenly understood what was going on, and, as they say, much laughter ensued. But it wasn't all fun and games for this weekend of the Premio Laudomia Bonanni (sponsored by La CARISPAQ, the major savings bank of L'Aquila): whew, Mark worked hard for his Bonanni Prize!

Venetian Ventures [by Moira Egan]

[Piazza San Marco: masks, tourists, pigeon]

Venice is a ridiculously beautiful city, as I'm sure you know whether you've been there or not. Even with the four hundred thousand other slightly lost visitors wandering through the winding passageways, the imperious tour-group leaders with their brightly colored flags held aloft on scary pointy sticks, the restaurant guys who try to lure you in several mispronounced languages into coming to their place for lunch, shop after shop after shop of masks and Murano glass and tacky tourist things--with all of that, there's nothing like that first step out of the labyrinthine shadows into the bright sun of the breathtaking Piazza San Marco.