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Two Poems by Alessandra Bava

Alessandra Bava

cobblestones

Apres Nous, Le Chaos

(to Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

In
   the
        bookstore
the voice slowly uncurls some pages of life, revealing Allen's
loss:

           "There is a HUGE                          		          HOLE in the sky" -

That same voice is painting vividly that very hole to the marrow.
          The poet never dies,
nor does his
voice.

Wasn't it that very voice you were looking for
                walking amidst the tombs in Rome? Keats' very voice,
                Shelley's very voice, Allen's very voice reverberating
                their hues upon the world's black canvas -

                                                        We all are a hole on the earth waiting for the
how of the poet, that
deep barbaric YAWP to tear asunder the pages
of our life, to color meaning for us -

Now only a message rests here,
				                        the one the poet said:

          - "After
us
           only
                          Chaos" -
(written after Ferlinghetti’s reading in Rome a few months after Ginsberg’s death in 1997)

WEBERLAND

(To Gregory Corso)

The cobbled stones echo with your
steps. The air resounds with your
whistling. Poetic marksman, you
hum Der Freischütz to yourself

and raise the glass of wine in the
darkest alley of Trastevere with
the deft gesture of an orchestra
leader in his Roman

Weberland.

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Alessandra Bava

When she is not translating, Alessandra Bava is writing the biography of a contemporary American poet. Her poems and translations have appeared in journals such as Gargoyle, Plath Profiles, THRUSH Poetry Journal, Tinderbox, and Waxwing. Three of her chapbooks have been published in the States. Her most recent translation works are Anthology of Contemporary American Women Poets and Anthology of Contemporary British Women Poets. Her collage works keep her sane at this time when she is experiencing life in quarantine.

Author: Alessandra Bava Tags: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Howl, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poetry Category: Poetry September 26, 2013

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Empty Mirror

Established in 2000 and edited by Denise Enck, Empty Mirror is an online literary magazine that publishes new work each Friday.

Each week EM features several poems each by one or two poets; reviews; critical essays; visual art; and personal essays.

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