Category: poetry

I foresee a coming earthquake In verse, the death of diffidence: The driver will no more dispense too little fuel, too much brake   And crawl along the roads of sense Like someone stoned. A poet in fear The audience may find him clear Instead of distant, dark and dense.   Politeness! Fuck it, let’s… Continue reading A poetic manifesto of sorts

Re-reading the poems of the great Italian Hermetic poets it strikes me again with some force how much understanding poetry is not a matter of analysis. Take this poem by Salvatore Quasimodo. Ed è subito sera Salvatore Quasimodo Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra trafitto da un raggio di sole: ed è subito sera.… Continue reading And suddenly …

Beyond touch – Poems by Arja Salafranca I can think of no greater compliment to a poet than to say that you have read all the poems in a volume. Often, I dip into poetry books, reading some poems that look promising, or which particularly resonate, and pass over the rest. I read all of… Continue reading beyond touch, by Arja Salafranca

Again, it has struck me that translation surfaces the issue of meaning in verse. When I was studying English literature, the assumption seemed to be that there was only one true reading of a literary work. Poems could, as it were, be unlocked by sufficient effort and intelligence. Our ideas of the reality of communication… Continue reading Gained in translation