writing blank

Sunday, August 17, 2008

To make the portrait of a bird (by Jacques Prévert)

Firstly paint a cage
with the door open
paint then
something pretty
something simple
something beautiful
something useful
for the bird
put then the canvas against a tree
in a garden
in a wood
or in a forest
hide behind the tree
without saying a word
without moving…
Sometimes the bird arrives soon
but it can also need some years
before it decides
Don’t get discouraged
wait
wait if necessarily years
the fastness or slowness of the bird coming
has nothing to do
with the success of the painting
As it arrives
if it does
observe the most absolute silence
wait until it comes into the cage
and as it did
close gently the door with the paintbrush
and then
erase one by one every bar
taking care not to touch the feathers of the bird
Do now a portrait of the tree
choosing the most beautiful of his branches
for the bird
paint also the green leaves and the freshness of the wind
the particles of the sun
the sound of the insects in the grass during the summer heat
and then wait until the bird feels to sing
If it doesn’t sing
it is a very bad sign
sign that the painting didn’t turn out well
But if it sings instead, then it is a good sign
sign that you can sign
Then pull out a feather of the bird
extremely gently
and write your name in a corner of the canvas.

Pour faire le portrait d'un oiseau

Peindre d'abord une cage
avec une porte ouverte
peindre ensuite
quelque chose de joli
quelque chose de simple
quelque chose de beau
quelque chose d'utile
pour l'oiseau
placer ensuite la toile contre un arbre
dans un jardin
dans un bois
ou dans une forêt
se cacher derrière l'arbre
sans rien dire
sans bouger…
Parfois l'oiseau arrive vite
mais il peut aussi bien mettre de longues années
avant de se décider
Ne pas se décourager
attendre
attendre s'il le faut pendant des années
la vitesse ou la lenteur de l'arrivée de l'oiseau
n'ayant aucun rapport
avec la réussite du tableau
Quand l'oiseau arrive
s'il arrive
observer le plus profond silence
attendre que l'oiseau entre dans la cage
et quand il est entré
fermer doucement la porte avec le pinceau
puis
effacer un à un tous les barreaux
en ayant soin de ne toucher aucune des plumes de l'oiseau
Faire ensuite le portrait de l'arbre
en choisissant la plus belle de ses branches
pour l'oiseau
peindre aussi le vert feuillage et la fraîcheur du vent
la poussière du soleil
et le bruit des bêtes de l'herbe dans la chaleur de l'été
et puis attendre que l'oiseau se décide à chanter
Si l'oiseau ne chante pas
c'est mauvais signe
signe que le tableau est mauvais
mais s'il chante c'est bon signe
signe que vous pouvez signer
Alors vous arrachez tout doucement
une des plumes de l'oiseau
et vous écrivez votre nom dans un coin du tableau.

(Jacques Prévert, from: Paroles, 1946, translated by me)

Originally posted in Italian on June 29, 2008 at 17:25

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Summer [I]

Cicadas,
bad sharpened pencils
on paper.

Originally posted in Italian on June 23, 2008 at 2:33

Saturday, June 28, 2008

The cyclist I

The cyclist rests his feet on the wings
the wheels just a thread
balanced on the asphalt.

Sitted head down on the frame
he holds the lost end of the road
rolling up his effort on the pedals.

The life of the man without time
slided by his side as a line
as the instant on the bike tangles up.

Silence you’re going to gather from his hands
he puts all on his legs and than stays
in the long wind tunnel
listening
______/ frrr frrr frrr frrr frrr /
to himself.

Originally posted in Italian on June 18, 2008 at 1:24

Monday, June 23, 2008

Spring [IV]

Frog in the pool:
wide circles in the frame
of the edges.

Originally posted in Italian on June 11, 2008 at 14:44

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Index of Per chi rimangono accese le luci

As said in the presentation post of the book, you can find here the index with all the links to the poems and sections already posted on the blog, and for the first time also the composition dates of the poems.
I will keep it updated with all the pieces which will be posted in the future.
I also included those «bonus tracks», unreleased in the book but already posted on the blog.

INDEX

per chi rimangono accese le luci
(for whom the lights stay on)

- Un poeta più in là (2003)

di riflesso (reflections by reflex)
- [Non avrei voluto essere d’altro che specchio] (2003)
- a Orlando (2006)
- a L. (2001)
- [Questa sera il tuo orecchio è una conchiglia] (2000)
- Vecchia ferita (2003)
- a Katalina (2003)
- Mi hai detto di essere un filo (2003)
- a Nauris – to Nauris (2006)
- Un segmento prima del mare (2006)
- [Sono stato distratto] (2006)
- a mio padre in giardino* – to my father in the garden* (2007) [BONUS TRACK]

heidelberg
- [Solo tu sapevi suggerire] – [Only you could suggest] (2005)
- Passaggi - Passages (2003)
- [Il sole spariva un sorriso dal volto] (2003)
- [Ritti sulla schiena del ponte] (2007)
- [Quando il sole è giunto sotto al ponte] (2006)
- [Ogni luce che filtra] (2004)
- Per chi rimangono accese le luci – For whom the lights stay on (2003)
- [Tenui luci di carta sulla sera] (2006)
- [Ho contato il centesimo balcone non visto] (2007)
- [Avrei sceso con te persino le scale] (2006)
- [Restava di passaggio la notte] (2003)
- Le chiuse (2007)

altre dimore
- [Al volgere di questi giorni tronchi] (2007)
- [Lo scoprimmo di sabato pomeriggio] (2007)
- [Non si diroccano i palazzi alti] (2007)
- Come a Ostenda* – Like in Ostend* (2007) [BONUS TRACK]
- Note sull’affitto di una casa a Vienna* – Notes for the rent of a flat in Vienna* (2008) [BONUS TRACK]
- Berlino, nel tempo* – Berlin, in time* (2008) [BONUS TRACK]

versi sparsi
- Il ciclista I - The cyclist I (2002)
- Autunno (2005)
- [Seduti su di un altro muretto] (2007)
- [Piove di sotto i menti diritti] (2004)
- [La neve cade solo dai tetti] (2006)
- [A chi scrivere l’ultima sera nella città] (2006)
- [Dall’acqua si vedeva] (2007)
- [Guardi i vicoli che scendono frenati] (2004)
- A love supreme in a car full of rage (2005)
- [Il soffuso silenzio di tutti i rumori del mondo] - [The suffused silence of all the world sounds] (2003)
- [Negli occhi tuffavo laghetti di Finlandia] (2005)
- Il ciclista II (2004)

mal-dette
- [Eccomi una volta ancora travolto] (2003)
- Atterrimento (2003)
- Sottosopra – Upside-down (2002)
- [Io ubbidivo in fiducia alla legge di Lavoisier] (2003)
- [Procedevo sulla mia sicurezza astigmatica] (2006)
- [La catena è lunga tanto] (2005)
- [Dici bene tu] - [You speak good] (2006)

Originally posted in Italian on June 5, 2008 at 19:30

Presentation of the collection Per chi rimangono accese le luci

I’m realizing just now that I’ve never posted, guiltily, a commentary to present my book Per chi rimangono accese le luci (For whom the lights stay on). Never too late for redemption!

The genesis
Chronologically, the collection starts from some young pieces which let themselves be read (the oldest one is however of 2000: no adolescent poems) until some new pieces which I added just to refine the project for the publication. But the collection is actually structured in 5 precisely organized sections, and the aim would be to make a book of poetry, and not a book of poems. I’m going to post the index of the book [here], in order to provide both a complete view of the project and a navigation menu for this label of the blog.
The heart of the book was conceived in Heidelberg (to this city is dedicated the homonymous section, which is also the original one), starting from my first stay there in summer 2003, as I first discovered to be able to write things which I liked, until when I left the city for the last time last year. Some effects of this possible farewell are already visible in the collection, especially in the section altre dimore (other homes), which is, as I wrote in the past, a still open section. About the other sections, maybe I’m going to post something specific next, here it is enough to repeat that there is a link between them all, with the partial exception of the section not by chance titled versi sparsi (uncollected verses).
If I had to draw some conclusion, I’d just say an obvious thing, and that is that it’s a début collection. Far from representing a disadvantage, this guarantees, in my opinion, that amount of ingenuousness-spontaneity with a limited risk to fall in the traps of these situations, as for example imitating those who were my models.

The publication
After many postponements and thousands of modifications, the book was eventually out on 7th December of the last year, printed by a young independent publisher from Palermo, Il primitivo editore. Beside the friendship with the «primitive» guys, publishing with them was a precise choice, reflecting the will to stay far from the normal publishing logics, or better completely out of them.
I could be told that, also if otherwise wanted, that I had not many other choices, but not therefore my choice was less proud and sure. The coincidence of pseudo-anarchist ideas (that means the total lack of ideas); the home-made print, which has turned the book into a very precious hand-made object; the distribution through alternative circuits, as squats, alternative publishing shops etc.; the releasing through a Creative Commons license; the use of recycled paper… they are all things which make me very proud of this choice.

The presentation
The book was then presented on the 7th of last December at the «primitivo info-shop», a little place rented just for those days, in order to celebrate the new-starting of Il primitivo editore, marked by the «evolution» passage from «all-under-desk» to official cultural association, although always «primitive».
After some short readings from the books, a special performance of a tribute-show to the bluesman Robert Johnson followed. The show was written and conceived a couple of years ago by me and by the reckless guitarist from Palermo Antonio Speciale, and, for this occasion, it was electrified by the cover-blues duo Die Megageile Küken-Farm.

Originally posted in Italian on June 5, 2008 at 19:22