Wishing I was Italy-- New Poems on the Web at Mediterranean Poetry



Photo of Manarola, Cinque Terre, Italy: the town in the first poem





And I learned not to regret

the little things that changed me—

~

I have a couple new never-been-seen before poems on the web today at Mediterranean Poetry.  It's a lovely website that focuses on poetry around (well, you might have already guessed it), The Mediterranean.

I like these poems because they were written several years ago by me and they seem to have a quieter voice.  I like their softness.  -- I know this might seem strange to write, but it's odd looking at my older poems and seeing the poet who wrote them is not-quite-myself.  There is a distance and yet, I remember that poet and what she was thinking.

I think that is the beauty of time in poetry and in looking at one's own work at a later date.  We are not pulled by the immediacy of the poem, but instead can determine its merits based on our knowledge and less on emotion.  We love our newest darlings best sometimes.  Adding a few years to a poem allows one to really see it for itself, its craft, own art and again, less on the content of what we are writing about.

It was a great experience diving through my old poems to find something on the Mediterranean.  While doing that, I found a lot of other interesting poems I had forgotten about and moved them into my New Work folder for revision.

Reading my old poems made me want to return to Italy.  In fact, I haven't been able to get Italy out of my mind...

Comments

  1. Thank you for sharing these poems. They're lovely. Having been to the places mentioned and traveled throughout Italy, the poems evoke a lot of memories.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely poems, Kelli. And a great photo of Manarola. Makes me want to go back to Italy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely poems, I really enjoyed them all -- especially "After Walking the Via dell’Amore." Perfect pitch!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! The combination of the language, the voice, and the rhythms was a delight, creating a lyricism that, while verging upon the nostalgic, stays this side of a sentimentalism that would have soured the experience of reading them.

    This is largely due, I feel, through your use of concrete images and a grounding of the poems in a world that is clearly evoked through the skilled use of language.

    Congratulations on the acceptances, and I hope to hear of more of your successes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. that picture of manorola makes me want to tear up, sweet

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Always love to hear from you...and the anonymous option is open for those feeling shy.