Synopsis:
In An Italian Morning, the reader will find 39 poems, 12 "Interlude" selections, and 9 paintings by Suzanne Gilliard. We are conveyed into a world that one can reach only through poetry - where the joy found in solitude and the solace found in universal connection emerge. Here, D'Ambrosio brings us to an enriched familiar.
The title of this beautiful book, An Italian Morning, taken from her poem "The Consolation in Being History," alludes to the mysterious origins of her Italian-American self and then to her engulfing love of the world and family. Brimming over with fresh language, the book treats the serious and/or witty concerns of maturity and the yearnings and lively flickerings of youth.
D'Ambrosio presents an entirely original method of bringing attention to her poetic style - with three "Interludes," way-stations, that act as multi-layering rest-stops to refresh and delight with their harmonious tone. The innovative "Interludes" comprise six of her unexpected "found-poems" - three from Melville's Moby Dick and three from Shakespeare - and six of her own translations of the great Argentinian poet Alfonsina Storni.
Accompanying the vivid imagery of D'Ambrosio's poetry are the brilliant and passionate paintings of Suzanne Gilliard. Gilliard's painterly realism sets the stage for each section of An Italian Morning and makes this an artistic pairing that is worth experiencing again and again.
In all, D'Ambrosio's An Italian Morning is witty, lyrical, profoundly moving, and masterfully orchestrated.
About the Author:
A graduate of Smith College and New York University, Vinni Marie D'Ambrosio, Ph. D., is a poet and scholar whose work is found in anthologies, journals, newspapers, as well as in her collection of poems, An Italian Morning (Waterside Press, Inc.) and Life of Touching Mouths (New York University Press), in her long narrative poem, Mexican Gothic (about Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, woodcuts by Karen Kunc, Blue Heron Press), and in her cultural study of T.S. Eliot's youth, Eliot Possessed (New York University Press). Her poem "Copper Beech" appears on a public memorial monument commissioned by New York City. Her work has also been published in Thailand and Italy.
D'Ambrosio has given more than one hundred readings all over the United States and in Canada. Her awards have included a poet-in-residency at San Diego State University and two fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as dozens of prizes for her poems. For twelve years she was the director of poetry readings at the Brooklyn Museum. She was also president of the T.S. Eliot Society in St. Louis and the Pen & Brush, Inc., in New York City. Professor Emerita of the City University of New York, D'Ambrosio currently leads an ongoing seminar in the poetry classics at the American Association of University Women, NYC.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
