- FEBRUARY 2018 -
THE POEM
OSTUNI, I
by Paolo Valesio
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Astu neon, your calli are the bones
of his body enveloped in black leather
cloak, shielding him from the inundating
grey blades of rain as they launch a countercharge
through slipping footholds, steps, and buttresses:
they slap the rose window of the cathedral,
they trickle over walls and faded little doors,
descending on terraces toward sea
while silvering this steep city all over
and sealing its own image in whiteness
and the appeal of its own unveiling.
Each narrow street’s mysterious in the wind
each slope bears resemblance to a whirlpool
in each labyrinth there’s a port concealed.*
(Translation by Barbara Carle)
* Astu neon: new city, calli: little lanes or streets as they are called in Venice
Ostuni. The rose window of the Cathedral, detail. Photo by Nicola Amato
My Salento - by Maria Felicita Cordella
Greetings from Punta Meliso - by Lino Angiuli
The tired woman dreamer - by Adeodato Piazza Nicolai
Greetings from Castro - by Lino Angiuli
The Last Green God - by Barbara Carle
Greetings from Acaia - by Lino Angiuli
And now that our words… - by Giovanna Politi
If you forget me - by Giovanna Politi
Only a chapter - by Joseph Tusiani
2015-01-06 - by Francesco Aprile
And they will come again - by Giovanna Nosarti
Bar - by Maurizio Evangelista
Grandma - by Toti Bellone
The secret of fire - by Antonio Belpiede
Half-open - by Carlo Alberto Augieri
(De finibus terrae / The ends of the earth) - by Anita Piscazzi
Gargano Olive trees - by Joseph Tusiani
With tight long bites - by Rita Rucco
The Traveller - by Marcello Comitini
Greetings from - by Joseph Tusiani
(to life) - by Marco F. D’Astice
Deep in the desecrated country - by Tommaso Di Ciaula
I was born on the 21st in Springtime - by Alda Merini
Late spring - by Adeodato Piazza Nicolai
These lemons - by Ernesto Treccani
Of dreams and tatters - by Joseph Tusiani
My grandmother’s wrinkled hands - by Giovanna Nosarti
Freedom - by Marcello Comitini
It’ll be a sentence handed down by the fathers - by Teodora Mastrototaro
the suitcase - by Alessio Laterza
I need - by Maurizio Evangelista
Village Village - by Daniele Giancane
i was reading the story of stories of stories - by Robert Viscusi
Crossing the Murgia - by Sergio D’Amaro
Murmur and a pearl - by Joseph Tusiani
If you glimpse - by Tommaso Di Ciaula
tuning can be difficult if you strain at it - by Robert Viscusi
It’s a good omen - by Cristanziano Serricchio
You can go deep into the woods at night - by Maurizio Cucchi
For love - by Luigi Fontanella
Dear words that you hear - by Cristanziano Serricchio
Ants and children play nearby - by Cristanziano Serricchio
The Celestial City - by Luigi Fontanella
A glance at the stars - by Tommaso Di Ciaula
When I went back to my town in the South - by Vittorio Bodini
We live in a spell - by Vittorio Bodini
You don’t know the South - by Vittorio Bodini
Wishing for a Wrong Number - by Joseph Tusiani
warandpeace: from without to will be - by Walter Vergallo
Song of Bicentennial - by Joseph Tusiani
A long war - by Tommaso Di Ciaula
let’s make ourselves a bridge - by Robert Viscusi