Poetry Rules

I am sharing a letter and the WPM statement I have just received by Jack Hirschman . It is addressed to every poet I may know. I hope you’ll read it. Thanks! Brigadistas everywhere----I've just returned from Medellin and momentous readings and meetings of the World Poetry Movement. Please read the document below---- which is the manifesto underlying all we have all dreamed of for a very long time: a worldwide poetry revolution! Please read it carefully and thoughtfully. It was unanimously approved by the Co-ordinating  Committee of World Poetry Movement. As most of you know, in 2011, 37 poets and organizers of international poetry festivals throughout  the world gathered in Medellin and formed the World Poetry Movement. There have been  many and multifold readings since then throughout the world but this year's revolutionary adoption of consciousness is a step-up. Until now we have worked largely with groups but now in addition we are asking you all...

I opened my mailbox today to find out that Jack had mailed me his latest poetry book: The Viet Arcane . I sat down holding it in my hands and started crying copious tears of joy. Those of you who know me--or have known me for a while--are aware that I am writing Jack Hirschman 's biography. I guess we could say that fate played a great part in our meeting one morning in Caffe Trieste in North Beach, SF, in August 2010. Holding this book in my hands, I feel how much the efforts of the writing and the intense research that I have been doing and that I am still doing have made a miracle happen. Had Jack and I not met that morning, I would have probably never have known who he was and I would have never started researching extensively about him. And, I would have never heard the story of Anh , the manuscript he lost track of several years ago. I would have never googled that word with a few others one day that pointed me to a "manuscript" that was housed at La Salle Univers...

So, it has happened at last. I am so happy of having a chapbook of my poems published in the US. It is a dream come true. It is almost a great act of hybris for somebody whose mother tongue is Italian, but who has dwelled in the English language since the age of 8 when she lived abroad for 5 years--in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates--attending American and International schools. I write poetry in Italian as well naturally but, I do believe that I write my best poems  in English. I hope this will not sound conceited. Honestly, I just look at some of my poems from this collection and think to myself that they make me proud. I guess I can say that a hint to how "good" one of the poems is came from a rejection that John Rosenwald, Co-editor of Beloit Poetry Journal  mailed to me: Dear Alessandra Bava, At our quarterly editorial board meeting that concluded yesterday we spent considerable time discussing your work, especially "Never Thirty-Seven" and "...

I am writing again. I am so grateful the Muses are being kind with me. I have just completed a new chapbook and I am also working on new poems. Jack's biography is moving forward as well. It seems I just needed a break from a very, very heavy year. I have been feeding my soul with lots of books, movies and art, lately. I have met and friended many wonderful poets--Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion of 100 Thousand Poets for Change among them. There have been poetry readings. There will be more shortly. As I wait for John to be back in Rome in July, I can say life is good. Poetry too. The lavender is blooming at last. Summer is here to stay!

Heading to the Ninfeo of Villa Giulia for the second of a 2-day event on Women's Poetry, named Eros & Kairos . The first part of the afternoon will be dedicated to engaged poets: I am particularly curious to hear Maram al-Masri, a Syrian poetess, also a friend of Jack and Agneta Hirschman, and Duska Vrhovac from Serbia. Marco Cinque and Giuseppe Natale will be reading poetry and playing exceptional music, too. A poetry prize is being awarded in the end. And, I should meet up with a poet of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change as well. It should be a fine afternoon of Poetry! #poetryrules

I will be reading together with Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion , co-founders of 100 Thousand Poets for Change , and with many other poets--among them Marco Cinque, Massimiliano Damaggio and Edoardo Olmi of Rome's Revolutionary Poets Brigade--tonight. Paul Polansky , that I have met 3 years ago in Bologna, will be the guest poet. Giuseppe Natale and his amazing guitar and music will be there to make this event even more special. It will be a reading in memory of 13 yo  Andy Lopez , who was killed in October 2013 in Santa Rosa, California. It will be a reading against police brutality. But, and I am talking at a personal level, it will also be a reading in which I will question again the role of revolutionary poetry. The world needs more and more poets who are ready to protest via their lines and words, because poetry can truly touch the chords of people. Poetry can truly be a means to change what we don't like out there. Indeed, Poets have the Power! Join us tonight...

It's Mother's Day, so I am posting Jack 's poem "Mother." You may also hear him read it in the clip I am posting, which is an amazing experience. Jack's wife, Agneta, believes that this is the best poem he has ever written. I am pretty sure it's up there in his poetical pantheon. You may read "Mother"  here. Listen to "Mother" here .