"Peccato" is the Italian word for "sin," those errors that are said to make us human. When Dante and his guide, the Roman poet Virgil, begin the arduous ascent up the seven-story Mount Purgatory, an angel inscribes seven P's on Dante's forehead, one for each of the cardinal sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony (over-indulgence), wrath (vindictive anger), and sloth (moral indifference). On each level, the penitents atone for one of these. Atonement becomes self-forgiveness, which makes the climbing easier.
Mary Jo Bang on "Canto XII" |
|
|
Pamela Paul: "Stop Pretending All Books Are Written in English"
"Translating literature isn't a mere technical exercise, subbing one word for another. It isn't something Google Translate can do. Translation is an art that requires channeling an author's voice, tone, intention and style. A great translator even has the power to improve upon a work of art, as Gabriel García Márquez often said of his English translator, Gregory Rabassa."
via THE NEW YORK TIMES |
|
|
What Sparks Poetry:
Allison Adelle Hedge Coke (Riverside, CA) on Ecopoetry Now
"Awareness of what we are part of, an element of, an organism within, is essential to knowing oneself and one's placement. There is duty inherent to place; balance, sustenance, reciprocity, preservation, protection, beingness, belonging to or being a good guest within. Every step taken has impression. The wonder of magnitude, from dust mites to star dust all over everywhere. What is illuminating, challenging, holding instruments of knowing brings song, language, reason, purpose, poetry." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
