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Pasquale Verdicchio’s photostory: Zapotec

Cempasuchil


Last night I dreamt

the souls of the departed

had returned to celebrate

the memory of their passing.

We ate and drank together

but I noticed their disbelief

and surprise at my presence,

as if some gust of wind

should have announced my arrival.

Not until the day of their departure

did I have the heart to tell them

that their residence was momentary

that their presence was

only made possible by

my belief in their love.

Pasquale Verdicchio’s poetry, essays, translations from the Italian (Pasolini, Zanzotto, Caproni, Lamarque, Atzeni and Gramsci) have appeared through Ekstasis, Guernica and other publishers. This Nothing’s Place was awarded the Bressani Prize for poetry in 2010. His most recent publications include Only You (poetry, Ekstasis, 2021), Encounters with the Real in Contemporary Italian Literature and Cinema, co-edited with Loredana Di Martino (Cambridge, 2017), and Contentment (poetry, Ekstasis 2024). He is Emeritus professor in the Department of Literature, at the University of California, San Diego, where from 1986-2021.

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