Category Archives: NYC lesbian poet
Video – Nov. 22, 2019 reading at Bureau of General Services – Queer Division
I’m honored by Don Yorty who came to my reading on Nov 22th and who has graciously added a video of me to his blog.
a found poem via facebook pics
polar skeletons
wander thin ice
soon a drowning doom.
droughts
and elephants die;
dry meat in the sands
for scavengers.
in venice,
the aqua alta higher
than the rubber boots
usually worn;
waist high now
w/ sewage,
pieces of lives,
history,
culture rotting
but wait
a rich tourist
gets a louis vitton bargain
manages to hold the shopping bag
above water,
they will count their possessions
as together we all rot.
Friday 11/22 Linda Whalen Quinlan & Vittoria repetto read at BGS-Queer Division
Friday November 22th at 7pm – LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street (between 7th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue) Room 210
Suggested donation of $10 – no one will be turned away for lack of funds
Linda Whalen Quinlan will read from her poetry book, Chelsea Creek which won the Wicked Woman Poetry Competition.
Long-time LGBTQ activist and poet, Quinlan grew up the daughter of union parents, a factory worker, and a carpenter. As the lesbian mother of two sons, Quinlan explores issues of gender and motherhood while also observing the particularities of the past and present cultural landscape.
“Linda Whalen Quinlan renders the rough terrain of working-class New England with a lush beauty that pulls no punches, letting the brute hardness of a place and its people coexist with longing and love, finding the tenderness hiding inside tragedy,” PEN Award winner Michelle Tea said of Quinlan’s work. “I love these poems.”
Vittoria repetto will read from her first poetry book Not Just A Personal Ad and from her second book My Fingers Wonder which is not yet published.
Her poetry paints unforgettable moments within unforgettable scenes and casts an unapologetically direct and witty eye on life’s complexity
Poet and reviewer Rigoberto Gonzalez wrote in the Lambda Book Report about Vittoria repetto’s first full length poetry book Not Just A Personal Ad , “Poems of intense sensibility and gorgeous imagery are a rarity these days; but this book of verse by a distinctly working class, distinctly lesbian, and distinctly Italian American voice is a must for all readers of good poetry.”
Vittoria repetto hosted the Women’s/Trans’ Poetry Jam at Bluestockings Bookstore from 1999 until 2018 and was the vice president of the Italian American Writers Assoc from 1991 to 2016.
Poem: l’rondini di framura (the swallows of framura)
up from africa
for the season
to feast on insects eating orchid fruits
and to hatch their babies
under drain pipes
and the corners of tunnels.
peaceful jets,
they pitch,
roll,
glide,
and float
down narrow sloping streets
and circle ancient towers.
©- 2014 – Vittoria repetto
poem: the protector
after mamma died,
nonna would sleep with me
in the big bed
in my parent’s apt.
dad coming home
after the restaurant closed
slept in my old bed.
as a teen
i wanted my own space
but had none.
i sometimes woke nonna up suddenly
as i in an adolescent sex dream
grabbed her.
and in the summer,
she liked the a.c. high
and i didn’t.
years after she died,
an old friend of nonna’s told me
nonna had heard
of widowers taking their daughters
and though she thought
dad was not the type,
she was going to make sure.
©- 2014 – Vittoria repetto
poem: summer 2014 – chinatown park
80 degrees
and the water games begin:
ballons and space guns
block vs block,
girls vs. boys,
b ball team vs. b ball team
run, throw, retreat,
repeat.
in their enthusiasm,
they rain
near misses on the daily bench sitters.
an old chinese woman,
resting from her collection
of discarded water bottles,
yells her distain.
©- 2014 – Vittoria repetto
Poem: day off – edge of columbus park
where i sit in warm weather
having bought brown rice for the sparrows only
read and watch
old chinese
hunt for empty bottles to redeem,
tourists – some looking lost,
nicky- a homeless woman from nigeria
who calls me mum and sits for awhile
refusing addresses for shelters
but will offer me some of her mango,
people tossing bread for the pigeons
some pigeons with missing toes or feet
having escaped traps
that would have made them dinner,
the black buddhist monk
with wisdom in his chosen name
walks around them
as they eat
@2013 – Vittoria repetto
Poem: 2013 gay pride parade
1.
a quarter to 4
and my section is still waiting to move
too many corporate floats
in front of us
wanting our busness
the price of acceptance
2.
i watch a baby butch baby femme couple
dressed almost the same
but different.
the butch balances the femme
as she somersaults
in her arms.
@2013 – Vittoria repetto
Poem: announcement in the sistine chapel
like the voice of god
from a speaker on high
a women’s voice
tells the crowd
it’s not permitted
to take photos
this god speaks in italian, french and english
when she speaks in german,
her voice is a man’s
@2013 – Vittoria repetto
Poem: the universe likes a good joke
years later
after a childhood
of watching him ignore my mother
walk away
as i held her in my arms
during her fits
the universe plays a joke
robbing him
of his memories of his mind
making me
his caretaker
@2013 – Vittoria repetto
Vittoria repetto's Blog 