Falling for Ischia 5

One of the many great things about traveling  is the ways it teaches one about the differences and similarities of cultures, gives us access to new foods and it opens us to, if not new ideas, different faces of old ideas, and for me in Italy, a never-ending sense of history across not only centuries but sometimes millennia.  The island of Ischia, not as famous as the nearby Capri, but larger and full of its own history was one such place.

Ischia is a small volcano formed island that is a ninety minute ferry boat ride from Naples. It was founded by the Greeks around the 8^th century BCE as a trading outpost. It has a fairly violent history ranging from volcano eruptions, to raids by “Barbarians,” to invasions by Barbary pirates, to being subsumed by various empires including a British attempt in the early 19th century,  until settling in to become an international artist colony in the early 20^th century and by the 1950s a tourist destination prized because of its thermal spas.

I was invited to be a part of the 7^th annual Storiae literary and archeological conference that celebrates the history and literature of Ischia. The theme of this year’s festival was “Signs and Knowledge”, a journey through the tangible and intangible heritage of the island. Most of the festival was held at Torre del Molino, a former Bourbon prison erected in the 18^th century.  While the presentations were outside, there was an exhibition of photos from the bombing of Hiroshima in the remaining room of the former prison.

Dr. Marianna Liguori, researcher at the University of Padua, presented before me speaking on Vittoria Colonna, (1492-1547) marchioness of Pescara. An Italian noblewoman, poet and prodigious letter writer she spoke and wrote in Italian, French, Spanish and Latin.  In Europe she is known as the first female to have a book of poetry published within her lifetime. Excerpts of her poems were read by the actor Aurora Cecchi in a presentation that was so nuanced in emotions that even with my extremely limited Italian I could get a sense of the subjects.

One of her regular correspondences was with Michelangelo.  He gifted her with this drawing. At the time of the drawing Colonna was approximately 50 and Michelangelo 65 years old.

After that presentation I climbed onto the stage billed as an “international voice of African American jazz poetry.” The audience sat inside the low wall enclosure and a small temporary stage was erected on the facing red stone floor.

My poetry was well received and at the end of my set I signed books and answered questions with my limited language skills.

But I entered Ischia in a less than graceful way. While waiting for a ride to our hotel, the directors of Casa delle Poesia, Sergio Iagulli and Raffaella Marzano, and I enjoyed granitas, blended fresh fruit and ice.  After our host picked us up, I took a fall while walking to the car. It was not a big thing, but I got a couple of little bruises on my calf. When Hugo picked us up the next day to take us back to the port so we could take a boat back to Naples, he told me that I should write a poem about the way I fell into Ischia, “like an angel falling out of the sky.” This is what I wrote (I gave him the quickly written rough draft)

Falling for Ischia

                                           For Hugo

he suggested that I write

a poem on my fall in Ischia

“like an angel from the sky”

but in truth

it was more like a seal

flopping on the shore

its fins awkwardly

pushing across the sand

to the sea where

it could swim with grace

I don’t know if

I made a mark on Ischia

but its dock left me

with two dark mauve clouds

pressed into my calf

A calm boat ride back to Naples prepared me for my next adventure.