Showing posts with label Italian writers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italian writers. Show all posts

Friday, July 24, 2020

"I Loved You," by Dino Campana

Short poem by Dino Campana (1885-1932), Italian poet who published one book of poems, Canti Orfici (Orphic Songs); there's at least one English translation of it. Video is about 30 seconds long. Translation by A.S. Kline.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvLwNs-2WBg

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Bartok and Stars

"The ways of life are infinite and mysterious."  --Georgio Scerbanenco, Traitors to All, translated by Howard Curtis


In spite of my playing, the piano
produced a simple minuet by Bartok,
which made me think of walking
cautiously across a frozen pond.

An empty coffee cup was sitting
on the bookshelf.  Cool ceramic.
Out there, and "up," night,
are stars, which we think of

as a permanent installation,
not a chaotic map of explosions
or freckles on an infinite face.
I dream recurrently about new

stars, close and bright,
flowing past in a sky-parade
as I look up from a meadow
in mountains and watch,

thrilled and terrified. I almost
forget to breathe. Someone I can't see
says, "Words are stars. I've
told you that before."


hans ostrom 2017