Customer Reviews

Vanishing Points: Poems

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Valerio Magrelli, though given the vocal attention of some of the best poets of yesteryear and today (Brodsky, Paz, Galazzi) continues to be a largely unknown presence in contemporary American poetry. He is one of the best Italian masters of the "micro" poem, so to speak: his verse is the verse of a man who spent long hours obsessing on the turn of each line, whether it would be graceful or awkward, fluid or stagnant. He looks at poetry with the eyes of a physicist, but unlike Sinisgalli he does not once come across as clinical or detached. My favorite in this collection:

"If I have to use digits to call you,

you undergo a transformation

into digits, your lineaments mutate

to the number that gets through to you.

The double three,

then the nine that comes third,

recall something in your face.

When in search of you

I have to draw up your figure,

I have to spawn the seven ciphers

that are analogues of your name

until the combination safe

of your living voice

unlocks itself."

"Antaura"

Barring the great Charles Simic, I see no one who can pull that off in contemporary poetry--he should be a household name, and NOT as a Language poet. Absolutely recommended.

great book,wonderful short and simple poems rich with depth of commonsense.i love his poems and would recommend to anyone who reads and write poems.