An Italian-American Writer & Poet with a Yankee Outsider Perspective
“Surely, Hawaii isn’t really in the US?” I quip to my husband as our plane descends into the dark of Kauai. Even more so in the daylight, the island seems too remote from cold snowy Minnesota to be in the same … Continued
So my daughter used to say with a naughty smirk on her face. She was probably 8th grade, that age when children all of a sudden become aware of what makes adults laugh and then think better of it. Witches’ … Continued
In case you haven’t heard, Jeremy Denk recenly won a MacArthur genius grant. As did our very own Patricia Hampl, not recently, but well remembered. Ah, genius in relative youth! And I am thinking of Mozart, and his divine sonorities, … Continued
For sadness because my oldest lovely is gone, yet looking through the trees out back, I see her face hovering in the pine branches… Thankful that she, Eleonora, had such loving care in Delaware, even through a topsy-turvy break, six … Continued
I’ve been struck by what I call The Documentary Impulse and now, I’m trying to inspire masters students to allow themselves to do the same. This is creating something of a quandary. What worked for Daniel Defoe in the early … Continued
Sometimes in a schematic mood, I divide poets into Emilys and Tennysons–Emilys belong to the pare-it-down, nail-it-tight school of poetry. Tennysons to the broader sweeping, celebratory school. Their music is different. They look different on the page–Emily’s tiny explosions, Tennyson’s … Continued
Every time I try to remember my breakup from my first husband, there are loud voices, the two of us standing in the kitchen shouting, then phone calls when he pled with me not to leave. At least we were … Continued
For sheer outrageous characterization, Charles Dickens has no match. It helps that his England was rife with class divisions (probably still is). Whereas US novelists play around with outlaws, hoodwinking innocents with snake oil and motley, Dickens almost always draws … Continued
Three thousand miles up, I’m sometimes at a loss for things to do. Recently, flying home from Italy via Amsterdam, I started reading the KLM packaging. Not only did the flight magazine tell me that Amsterdam’s Concertgewau orchestra hall is … Continued