Napolipoetry in the Park

We would like to inaugurate these international meetings with an invitation and we like to do so by borrowing the brief narration of an episode given by Pier Vincenzo Mengaldo in a writing relating to Gianfranco Contini: "At a certain point he was asked how he ascertained the value, resistance, etc. of a text; and he, with one of those graceful gestures that were typical of him, placed a cupped hand on one ear, inclined both towards the table and said: 'I'm listening'". We therefore invite you to an apparently simple act: listening. In fact, our time seems the least suitable for listening: communication, in all its forms, has taken on such a preponderant role that it has become noise, no longer just background noise, but actually omnipresent and omnivorous. What seems important is the ability to affirm one's existence through the issuing of a message, in the shortest possible time and which reaches the widest possible audience. The need and meaning of such messages, the time for critical reflection, the space for discussion, seem to have become completely irrelevant. In a perverse spiral that goes from the bombshell news to the bombshell tout-court. For this reason it is not surprising that poetry, in the last century, has become increasingly marginal; rather, it is surprising to find its survival (if not even a newfound interest) at various levels. We record, from our privileged observatory of the House of Poetry, unexpected, in number and quality, resistance to the homogenizing globalization: on the level of language as well as of contents, this act of speech claims its originality and autonomy, it questions itself by being contaminated and confronted with the languages of the body and of music, thus giving rise to outcomes that place it in a new and critical position with respect to reality, thus keeping faith with one of its main reasons for being, which consists in subverting points of view accepted as common sense facts, thus allowing access to unusual and heretical views. There is therefore a common thread that links the individual poetic experiences and is represented by this desire to resist the inevitability of the current established order, its obvious injustice, its greed, its innate violence. This does not imply at all an alternative homologation, but rather an exaltation of diversity and the choice to favor the meeting as a place for exchanging experiences and interaction between artistic languages, taking note that all the participating poets have chosen to dialogue with the musicians, some continuing an already consolidated path, others taking up the challenge of something new that can open up new horizons. Therefore, proposing poetry meetings, as we have been doing for over a decade, is, on our part, a request to listen, understood not as a passive act, but as a critical and participatory moment. So the choice of location is not unrelated to these considerations. That there is a strong link between thought and garden, between "desert" (understood as a place not frequented by humans) and meditation, is historically and literaryly ascertained. But this choice was not dictated by an arcadian temptation, we do not intend to distance ourselves from history and its contradictions, rather we felt the need to place a distance between us and the metropolis, a creative and chaotic place par excellence, in which relationships frantically overlap until they fade into indistinctness. A distance to see better, before returning to the urban reality with a new awareness. We therefore expect that this oblique gaze, which the place, the poetry and the music allow us, can be the seed for a more critical action, more free from the dictatorship of day after day, more available to the urgencies of this indissoluble whole that is man + environment. For these reasons (or perhaps, to quote Brecht, because we are still stubbornly sitting "in the wrong") we wish you, not conventionally but with great conviction, simply Happy Listening! House of poetry

Program

Friday 9 September 2005 at 9.00 pm Reading Agneta Falk (Sweden / England) Mariano Bàino (Italy) Jack Hirschman (United States) Khal Torabully (Maurizius Islands) Dane Zajc (Slovenia) Memory of Izet Sarajlic Video: "Ante Zemljar - Standing by the wall" Speakers: Antonio Bassolino (President of the Campania Region), Dino Di Palma (President Province of Naples) Rosa Russo Iervolino (Mayor of Naples), Agostino Di Lorenzo (Park Authority Commissioner). Saturday 10 September 2005 at 9.00 pm Reading Francisca Aguirre (Spain) Maram al Masri (Syria) Michel Cassir (Lebanon) Abdelkader Benali (Morocco/Holland) Wanda Marasco (Italy) Josip Osti (Bosnia) In memory of Ken Smith At the end, for those who wish, a shuttle service will take you to Masseria Fioretti for a tasting of typical products of the Park (offered by the Department of Agriculture of the Campania Region) and a performance by Ettore Castagna. Sunday 11 September 2005 at 9.00 pm Reading Mimoza Ahmeti (Albania) Amina Baraka (United States) Amiri Baraka (United States) Gabriele Frasca (Italy) Carmen Yanez (Chile) Memory of Martin Matz Video: "Agneta Falk - Blue" Musicians: Gaspare Di Lieto Jazz Quartet (Gaspare Di Lieto, piano, Peppe Plaitano, sax; Tommaso Scannapieco, bass; Gaetano Fasano, drums), Ferdinando Gandolfi (wind instruments), Enzo Nini (reeds, live electronics), Mimmo Napolitano (piano), Filippo Gambetta (diatonic accordion), Claudio De Angeli (acoustic guitar), Ettore Castagna (Calabrian lyre, double flute, bark flute, wind chimes, battente guitar, harmonic flute, etc.), Gabriele Cini (guitar), Emilio Scognamiglio (percussion), Fabio Notari (guitar), Janez Škof (accordion), Massimiliano Sacchi (keyboards, clarinet, sampler), Claudia Christiansen (voice and various instruments). Translations: Raffaella Marzano, Gordon Poole, Franco Paris, Emilio Coco, Jolka Milic, Sinan Gudzevic, Giancarlo Cavallo, François-Michel Durazzo, Kadri Vokopola, Stevka Smitran. Music consultancy: “La Rionna” cultural association Coordination by Ciro De Rosa Computer graphics: Luca Zagaria Systems and services: No Sound System Light project: Giuseppe Pacenza Audio recording: Francesco Galdieri Video Recording: Riccardo Argentino Photos: Pier Paolo Iagulli, Camillo Ripaldi Graphics: Pier Paolo Iagulli Info:

Information

Metropolitan Park Authority of the Hills of Naples Campania Region Province of Naples Municipality of Naples Thanks to: Ministerio de Education, Cultura y Deporte. Directorate General of Books, Archives and Library, Madrid. International Writers Program, Foundation for the Production and Translation of Dutch Literature, Amsterdam. Pen Club Slovenia. Department of Agriculture, Campania Region.