I’ve had
thirty-six lovers
plus tax.

—Alda Merini (trans. by Douglas Basford)

ABOUT

Edited by Geoffrey Brock, the “Italian Portfolio” in this special issue of Poetry magazine contains nineteen poems by eleven contemporary Italian poets, including Raffaello Baldini, Patrizia Cavalli, Valerio Magrelli, Antonella Anedda, and Milo De Angelis. English translations are provided by Adria Bernardi, Susan Stewart, Jamie McKendrick, Sarah Arvio, and others. The portfolio is framed by two essays, one by Brock and the other by the Italian critic Gianluigi Simonetti.

CONTENTS

GEOFFREY BROCK

• Some Recent Italian Poems (essay)

RAFFAELLO BALDINI

• Hygiene (trans. by Adria Bernardi)

FRANCO FORTINI

• Ah the Delight… (trans. by GB)
• Far Away, Far Away… (trans. by GB)

ALDA MERINI

• From “Aphorisms” (trans. by Douglas Basford )
• From “Aphorisms and Spells” (trans. by Douglas Basford )

PATRIZIA CAVALLI

• [The Happy Ones Are Almost Always Also Vulgar] (trans. by GB)
• [From behind, Standing, from a Distance] (trans. by GB)

MILO DE ANGELIS

• From “Theme of Farewell” (trans. by Susan Stewart & Patrizio Ceccagnoli)

UMBERTO FIORI

• At the Circus (trans. by GB)
• Slide (trans. by GB)

ANTONELLA ANEDDA

• For My Daughter (trans. by Sarah Arvio)
• Vendetta (trans. by GB)

VALERIO MAGRELLI

• From Our Correspondent in: Theatre Square, Dresden (trans. by Jamie McKendrick)
• Bar Code (trans. by Jamie McKendrick)

FABIO PUSTERLA

• Plundered (trans. by GB)
• Night Visit (trans. by GB)

PATRIZIA VALDUGA

• From “One Hundred Quatrains” (trans. by GB)
• From “Quatrains: Second Hundred” (trans. by GB)

FRANCO BUFFONI

• [From Mars Cruel God of War] (trans. by GB)

GIANLUIGI SIMONETTI

• Italian Poetry Today: New Ways to Break the Line (essay; trans. by GB)