{"id":2673,"date":"2022-09-26T18:17:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T18:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/?p=2673"},"modified":"2022-09-26T18:17:50","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T18:17:50","slug":"poems-birthed-in-italia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/?p=2673","title":{"rendered":"Poems Birthed in Italia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While in Italy I started a number of poems. The following three poems were begun in Sardinia and were observations of or responses to festival offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

around the grove<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the trees speak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

discreet words<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from a sonorous voice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

disembodied poems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

overlapping images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

knotted phrases<\/p>\n\n\n\n

insistent love<\/p>\n\n\n\n

forgotten promises<\/p>\n\n\n\n

remembered betrayal<\/p>\n\n\n\n

forgiveness unfastened<\/p>\n\n\n\n

buzzing emotion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

forms trails of words<\/p>\n\n\n\n

poems climb through the branches<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and hover beneath the leaves<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one entered the grove in Seneghe where many of the presentations were made one could immediately hear poems that were coming from speakers hung from the branches of several trees. The poems were not recited in unison, and it was the same deep, male voice calling out from each of the trees. \u00a0If you did not see the very small speakers, it did indeed seem as if the trees were reciting poetry.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

war observed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as death melts into the earth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the living are dressed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the spirits of their dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pressed into heavy coats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and thick solid shoes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

some men bend but do not fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the buildings around them<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

there are moments<\/p>\n\n\n\n

when all tears are spent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

all howls quieted<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and only the music of bombardment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and crumbling houses can be heard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is death complicated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or simply final<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

grandmother now<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she sits in a corner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of a room of refuge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one arm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one leg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

crushed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one husband<\/p>\n\n\n\n

buried<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

demolished<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she does not name<\/p>\n\n\n\n

those responsible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

her truth is that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

those who shoot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

who bomb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

who kill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

do not fear god<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or seek justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n

only twisted revenge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

her lips are welded<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eyes neither embracing or<\/p>\n\n\n\n

turning from the camera<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

do not ask<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ask the widow who<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the child how<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mother why<\/p>\n\n\n\n

or if there is value to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the dying<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for dominion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for capital<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for flags<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that wave above graveyards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

only soldiers can stop it<\/p>\n\n\n\n

soldiers cannot refuse to die<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but they can refuse to kill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the solution lives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in tears carried in<\/p>\n\n\n\n

smoke filled wind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

above the silences<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that follow bombs collisions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

his lens sees only tragedy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the crumbled kitchen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the hollowed bedroom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the little girl<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the baby<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the mother<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the son<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the eyes forever frozen into discs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like the camera\u2019s lens<\/p>\n\n\n\n

frigid with the ice of terror<\/p>\n\n\n\n

he puts the camera down<\/p>\n\n\n\n

finds water for this one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lifts the body of that one<\/p>\n\n\n\n

seeks another way to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hold back the war\u2019s tide<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

american journalist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

freshly shaved<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

new jacket<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wallet full of money<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for checkpoint guards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a well-paid lighting crew<\/p>\n\n\n\n

does the american journalist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

search for the best angle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the safest place<\/p>\n\n\n\n

does he have in mind<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the story he wants<\/p>\n\n\n\n

cropping the shot<\/p>\n\n\n\n

just so<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poems were created from a photography presentation and discussion “War and It\u2019s Representations” byGiulio Piscitelli (photojournalist)and Sabato Angieri (journalist) on the war in Ukraine that was moderated by Vito Biolchini held at the International Literary Festival \u201cCabudanne de sos poetas\u201c held in Sardinia in 2022.\u00a0 I understood the photos and only brief phrases of the discussion, but Rafaella Manzano helped me when I asked her specific questions. The poem evolved from the notes I made at the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

autopsy of poems presented at a poetry reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. context<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    when the skin is peeled back from the flesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    still clasping bone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    when the intestines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    are removed from the gut<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the skull divided<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    until the grayed brain can be seen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    the heart severed from the ribs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    what does it  do except affirm death<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    without even a glint of life<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    no less the poems words spread<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    lines questioned devices registered intent debated<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    as they stiffen under the rigor of surgical examination<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • format<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      the poet read a poem<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      aways short almost never<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      filling more than a page<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      the interviewer then began<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      a line of questions long and circular<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      the poet answered as a river winding<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      and then the next poem was examined<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • bones gathered from the languid autopsy<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        of poems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        history<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        words<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        resistance<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        violence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        because they are<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        i am<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        we write read remember<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        again and again<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        grand possibilities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        need together<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        often<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        where are the grand passions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        for the children again<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        poetry of sadness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        tears<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        like songbirds<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        with wings folded<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        without nests<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        look at all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        all is sadness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        all of life only a moment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        how does one say alone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        speak of things<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ancient<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        ***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        the butterflies do not<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        hear or understand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        leaves fall regardless of the image<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Elisa Donzelli read from her book Album<\/u> and was in dialogue with the author Giovanna Frene International Litrary Festival “Cabudanne de sos poetas:held in Sardinia in 2022. I caught soe words and phrases and wrote them down, sometimes asking Raffaella about the meaning of a specific word or phrase. I missed far more than I captured and then reframed as the event seemed needlessly dry structured, as Raffaela said, as an autopsy of the poems. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        While in Italy I started a number of poems. The following three poems were begun in Sardinia and were observations of or responses to festival offerings. around the grove the trees speak discreet words from a sonorous voice disembodied poems overlapping images knotted phrases insistent love forgotten promises remembered betrayal forgiveness unfastened buzzing emotion forms […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[182,3,5],"tags":[19,9,66],"class_list":["post-2673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-literary-festivals","category-poetry","category-travels","tag-international-poetry-festival","tag-poetry-2","tag-war-poems","czr-hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4HsnE-H7","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2678,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2673\/revisions\/2678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devorahmajor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}