Poetry Rules

"Wherever Art is going she will follow suit pregnant and barefoot from the balcony/ in due time." ( from Never Thirty-Seven ) What I Am Working On After the release of   They Talk About Death , my first US-published chapbook, last July by Blood Pudding Press ,  I am currently working on some translations projects--that is translations into Italian of poems by Alejandro Murguía , current San Francisco Poet Laureate as well as editing and translating an  New Anthology of American Poets . I am also always working on my main WIP, that is poet Jack Hirschman 's biography, which is indeed a beautiful and demanding experience. Writing about a contemporary poet's life and work takes a long time not only in terms of writing but requires so much research, too. I cannot but recognize how this work is constantly shaping my writing and is enriching me in way I find hard to express. Last but not least, there are always new poems I am working on--whether for specific chapbooks ...

I am indeed grateful to the upcoming 100 Thousand Poets for Change event in Rome next 27th September. Yesterday evening at a group meeting with the organizer of the event, John and I had the chance to meet a group of young poets known as MEP (Movimento per l'Emancipazione Poesia) -- that is Poetry Emancipation Movement--whose aim is to billpost poems around town but without divulging the poets' names. Each of them signs his/her poems with his initial and a number that identifies them. You may check their website here to see how they work. Their message is pretty clear: they want to bring poetry to the street so that anyone may read it but they choose to have their poems speak for them. No voice, no face and no name is attached to the poem. This form of billposting is unauthorized, so there is a strong element of protest that comes with their activity. I am totally in love with this idea. And yet, I had to question my poetry Weltanschaunung . Does it really matter if peopl...