What I Learned... for Paco, in memoriam

On the last day of 2023's January Writing Hours (thank you Kim Moore and Clare Shaw) I wrote this in response to the first prompt, based on Brad Aaron Modlin's poem "What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade" - having learned the day before that my friend and half of my favorite publishers had died. Paco, you would not be surprised to find that, as always, it's all about me.

New England Poetry Club Honorable Mention

 The New England Poetry Club awarded Honorable Mention in the Diana Der-Hovanessian Prize, selected by Eric Hyett, to "Papa, you wanted a son" - my translation of a poem from Mónica Ojeda's collection Historia de la leche, (Editorial Candaya, 2020).

Hear me read 

Go here to read the poem at the New England Poetry Club 2022 Anthology page

Sant Jordi #24

    After the Hail 

          for Pep, 24 years later 

The apple tree died while I 

was gone, its bark stripped 

and fallen back to the pot, 

the largest one on the terrace.

Stark, nobby branches choked 

by equally dead morning glory 

tendrils hold sacs of seeds 

stiffly in the April wind. 

Both dead things remain 

to train the thick nasturtium 

stalks with their wealth 

of perpetual sunset. 

Opposite, the barely salvaged 

pine tree pushes its newborn 

needles towards the sun. They

follow east to south to west. 

Among all the dead branches 

in sunburned pots bursting 

with wild garlic, clover, asparagus, 

the surprise of this tall purple iris. 

 🐍🌹📚

Poesía en acción #17

 Better late than never!

Poesía en acción published my translation of two poems from Mónica Ojeda's Historia de la leche, along with the originals. 

Link to poems

There's also a micro interview with me.

Link to micro interview

I'm very grateful to Olivia Lott for the invitation, and grateful to Kate Hedeen of Action Books, who first encouraged me to pursue getting these poems published in English. And exceedingly grateful to Mónica for writing them and letting me translate them.

It's been a weird year and a half, but I'm grateful for a lot of things. Happy Thanksgiving!

🦃

Bloomsday; Dad's obituary; 18 years without Pep

 Dad's obituary was published in the Boston Globe today, as I requested, so that I could also remember Pep, who died 18 years ago. 

There's a page set up for him at Bartlett Funeral Home, who took his body to Harvard, and Globe has another site on Legacy. It's the same obituary.

Legacy site

When Harvard is done, three years from now, his remains will be buried at the family plot in Mount Auburn Cemetery, a very beautiful place to rest.

Fair winds and following seas, Pa.

Translations! Some poems by Carlos Vitale in Words and Worlds journal

 

Words and Worlds have published three poems by Carlos Vitale alongside my English translations in the Summer Issue.

SUMMER ISSUE / SOMMER AUSGABE 2020

This great online journal focuses on the immigrant experience.

The View from Olympia Anthology

Thrilled to have a poem of mine included in this Olympic anthology, alongside many

wonderful poets and friends. I especially love sharing the page with Carole Bromley.

This was also my very first launch event, thanks to zoom and the pandemic, and it was also a thrill to read and to listen.

Thank you to Joe Williams and to Half Moon Books!