#poetry

ellisislandpoem:

Since Hurricane Sandy, Ellis Island has been closed for repairs, and no one can say when it will open again. You can’t visit it on land. But you can visit it in feelings, memories, hopes, and dreams. An Ellis Island of the mind.

Robert Viscusi launches his epic poem Ellis Island this Wednesday evening, April 3, 2013, at 6 pm. Bordighera Press has just published this work.

Free & open to the public.  John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, 17th floor, New York, New York 10036 (Between 5th and 6th Avenues)
RSVP by calling (212) 642-2094. Please note that seating is limited and we cannot reserve seats. For further information see our Web site at www.qc.edu/calandra.

So excited to see this book finally in print. It’s a masterpiece of poetry and you should all read it. 

My former boss, Robert Viscusi has decided to serialize one line a day from his epic poem, Ellis Island:

the fellow who was in jail for life escaped for a few weeks to the swamp

Check it out, or generate your own random sonnet. This thing is an impressive piece of work and if you’re a fan of poetry, I think you will find it a very unique and special read. 

the dead can sleep
they don’t get up and rage
they don’t have a wife.

her white face
like a flower in a closed window lifts up and
looks at me.

the curtain smokes a cigarette
and a moth dies in a
freeway cash
as I examine the shadows of my
hands.

an owl, the size of a baby clock
rings for me, come on come on
it says as Jerusalem is hustled
down crotch-stained halls.

the 5 a.m. grass is nasal now
in hums of battleships and valleys
in the raped light that brings on
the fascist birds.

I put out the lamp and get in bed
beside her, she thinks I’m there
mumbles a rosy gratitude
as I stretch my legs
to coffin length
get in and swim away
from frogs and fortunes.

1965.