Paul Vangelisti recently gave a reading at Beyond Baroque, along with Vincent Katz, under the title of “Urbanity’s Hounds.” You can find this reading on-line at the following link:
Before you watch it, however, I would urge you to read the just published interview with Paul which was conducted by David Garyan in Italya year ago.
https://interlitq.org/blog/2023/11/13/interlitqs-californian-poets-interview-series-paul-vangelisti-poet-translator-editor-and-journalist-interviewed-by-david-garyan/
I’ve read Paul’s work for over 50 years, and have heard him speak about his early years as a poet and translator many times, but never have I encountered a conversation that so candidly enfolds a poet’s personal recollections with an examination of the poetics of translation. One new thing I learned from this interview is how Paul uses Italian to help reorient himself when the initial version in English reaches a point of perplexed indecision.
While I myself never attempted to become a published translator, I have spent time translating work from the French by several writers, the first of whom was Jules Laforgue. Would I have even thought about becoming a poet if I hadn’t assiduously worked on a poem by LaForgue in the Fall, 1966? All of the poets I’ve helped in my life have no idea how much they owe to my French teacher that semester, who left me enchanted with the capacity of languages to intertwine.
About Bill Mohr