Poetry Rules

Just wrote a poem that is imbued with my feelings at the screening of the video Les Goddesses by artist Moyra Davey at the Empire State. Art in NY exhibit at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni here in Rome. A poem inspired by Mary Wollstonecraft , laudanum, illness of the soul, the Shelleys and freeze-frames. So much going on. Something truly inspiring.

June has been a month full of pleasant surprises. More than I could have predicted. A month in which I have started writing and submitting poetry again with new enthusiasm. And then, HEARTFIRE, Second Revolutionary Poets Brigade Anthology edited by Jack Hirschman and Agneta Falk has reached Rome in a box full of contributor's copies. It is a joy to have one's poems in there and it is a greater joy to have had the chance to translate into English so many wonderful Italian poets. The book is a thing of Beauty. If anyone happens to be in San Francisco next July 7th, please don't miss the chance to celebrate the launch party of the book at The Emerald Tablet . Many wonderful poets will be there. Go, listen to them recite revolutionary poetry and get youreslf a copy of the book. It will be a very lively event. No doubt! June 11th is a date I will never forget. Patti Smith was in Rome for the presentation of the Italian translation of her Woolgathering . It was great...

It seems I have finally learnt to be utterly content with my "in busy mode" nature. Given my life, I know some things I can change and others I cannot, nor probably wish to. And so, happily busy I am. After a particularly apathic period, I am definitely brushing up my poetical character. I am back to writing poetry and, above all, I am back to submitting poetry. I have dealt with a ridiculous number of rejections lately, but I have also aimed higher and so I was kind of expecting it. It hurts all the time but, I swear, there is nothing like a rejection to keep me alive and flaring up. The occasional wtf and life moves forward. This said, I have spent the last few months busy with the bio's research, writing and getting in touch with more poets and friends of my poetical guru . It is a very, very engaging and yet beautiful experience. Not to mention enriching. I have also been translating 13 American poets for Patria Letteratura , an Italian online journal I am very gl...

So April is Poetry Month and though it is now coming to a close I think I celebrated in the best way, so far.  I have attended Patti Smith's The Poet Speaks , her Tribute to Ginsberg's poetry. I have even managed to hand her--via her daughter Jesse--a copy of my chapbook Nocturne (PulcinoEdizioni 2013) that is dedicated to her. Not to mention the surreal and almost poetic conversation after she left the stage door. I have heard Patti play the best version live ever of "Beneath the Southern Cross" and I have heard her talk about poetry like only a poet can do. Her advice was superb. I have written a few poems I am quite proud of. Long live Poetry! Long Live Patti! Patti (copyright Luigi Orru) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CEbAf-EHQ0

Tina Modotti 's exhibit at the Auditorium could not have been a more poetic event, given the poem by Pablo Neruda  decorating a wall of the hall and dedicated to the famous revolutionary photographer and written upon her (still mysterious) death in 1942. Tina did not want to be considered an artist but just a photographer and yet, her stills are so much more than photographs. Her black and white works are imbued with life, work, poverty, politics and truth. Vivid, raw and extraordinarily beautiful. A passionate civil canto in pictures, full of her fire and her brave heart.

If not, you should! How? I have many ideas, so I'll gladly share some with you. Make this day special, since it is Poetry we are talking about! 1. READ POETRY . This is fairly easy. Grab a book and breathe poetry. 2. WRITE POETRY . Everyone is a poet, so do it! 3. BUY POETRY . Make yourself a present or buy a poetry book for a friend or a relative. 4. SHARE POETRY . Post poems or poetry quotes on social networks a/o hand poetry quotes at work! 5. LISTEN TO POETRY . Surf YouTube and enjoy listening to some poetry. 6. COLLABORATE WITH OTHER POETS . Organize an improvised reading or write something together. 7. PROMOTE A POET . Yes, please! Promote a poet you love. 8. DO SOMETHING POETIC . Enjoy the sunset. Take a walk in a wood or in the countryside. Love! 9. CHOOSE A LINE and make it your motto. 10. SEND ME A POEM . Your own or someone else's. I'll truly appreciate it!

It looks like writing sometimes fails me. I have tried to write a good amount of words on the WIP, today, but it didn't work as I wanted. Yet, this morning, out of the blue, I wrote a poem inspired by Federico García Lorca 's murder. Images and words blended together in less than 2 minutes. I incorporated three of Lorca's lines in it, too. It amazes me how he had predicted his own death and that his body would be buried in a mass grave. The prescience of poetry? Or, the darkness of duende ? Then I realized I had been murdered... They never found me? No. They never found me.