Why Ever A Poetry Collection?

This year has been incredibly busy for me. I have started marketing my poems in a serious way, I have been translating poetry like crazy -- two collections, some poems by Jack that are being published as I write and I will soon  translate a dozen or more poems of the members of Rome's Revolutionary Poetry Brigade for the second RPB's international Anthology. Last but not least, I have been involved in poetry readings too. This said, one wonders why I should take the pain of putting together some of my works for a collection. Does the world really need a new poetry collection?  A friend  told me: "Nobody reads poetry anymore!".

Oh well, I guess I know he is right. Not a lot of people do. But, maybe a couple of friends would dare buy my poems -- assuming I got published. And yet, I know this is not the reason behind my writing. If I write my poems it is because I need to let it out. I need to use my words and convey my message. It is my hidden strength. 

"I'll let the vowels and the consonants be my only incendiary ammos." This is why I write. This is all that matters to me. 



Comments

  1. John Claude SmithNovember 17, 2011 at 10:02 PM

    A collection of your poetry would be magnificent! I want #1, signed, and I'll pick it up when we are together in Rome. Please and thank you! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dora DeeNovember 20, 2011 at 3:58 AM

    I don't know who these people are who don't read poetry. I read poetry and would gladly buy it and read it if I understood most of it! BTW, I love your poetry and would gladly buy your book -- signed wouldn't be bad either :) Unfortunately poetry nowadays seems to be written for academics and some of it is so obscure that you have to read it with a dictionary. Rap and hip hop have become the new poetry. I, myself, prefer and write simple, direct poetry. As long as there is a heart to reach - there will always be poetry. As your blog states "Poetry Rules!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alessandra BavaNovember 20, 2011 at 10:43 AM

    Dora, thank you for your lovely message. I am indeed blessed to have fellow poets like you! Poetry will always rule for people like us, because we do understand that the real meaning of poetry is to touch people's hearts and souls. :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Visceral Anne Sexton

Image
I love visceral poets. I love poetry made of flesh and bones, of marrow and heart. And pain. I was seventeen when I first read a poem by Anne Sexton. It was love at first sight. I could not help reading all she wrote from then onward and being so devastated by her words and life. I still retain the magical power with which a sentence of that poem hit me: "My mouth blooms like a cut." If only my verses could be as powerful as this! Anne remains a spirit guide.
Read more

Wearing Poetry

Image
Yes, I proudly wear poetry. Every time I watch my ring I rejoice because those lines were written for me and no one else owns a more precious jewel. It is not the silver that makes it precious, but the beauty of the words that were chiseled on it. More so, it is the meaning of those six lines--that are the final stanza of a longer poem--that move me and remind me how incredible fortunate I am. Nothing like those words. They burn in me like an inextinguishable fire every day.  
Read more

Recalling Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Force of the Past

Image
Today is Pasolini's 36th death anniversary. He was brutally killed on the night of November 2, 1975 in still unclear circumstances and found the following morning by a blue collar on his way to work. Pasolini is possibly Italy's most important poet after Dante. An amazing intellectual who truly loved the lowest classes, which he celebrated in his deeply profound novels and poems. As Jack Hirschman points out, his three initials stand for "Passion, Provocation and Prophecy." This is so true.  I wish to celebrate Pasolini posting Orson Welles' reading one of his poems of which I am also including a translation. "I am a Force of the Past" roars Pasolini. No, he is much more than that. He is still today a Force of the Present and of the Future too.  I am a Force of the Past. My love lies only in tradition. I come from the ruins, the churches, the altarpieces, the villages abandoned in the Appenines or foothills of the Alps where my brothers once l...
Read more