The Resistance and Its Light by Pier Paolo Pasolini, translated by Brandon Brown

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 4, 2015   The Resistance and Its Light   Pier Paolo Pasolini, translated by Brandon Brown

so I came to the days of the Resistance I didn’t know anything but style it was a style made totally of light memorable recognition of sun. It could never fade not even for an instant even as Europe trembled on its deadliest evening we escaped from Casarsa with our stuff in a cart to a ruined village among canals and vineyards it was pure light my brother left, it was a mute morning March, in a train, disguised his pistol in a book it was pure light he lived a long time in the mountains which shone like paradise in the blue gloom of Friulian plains it was pure light in the attic of our farmhouse my mother always stared at those mountains hopeless, she saw the future it was pure light with a few poor people I lived a glorious life, persecuted by despicable rhetoric it was pure light the day of death came Independence Day, the martyred world knew itself again in the light… the light was the thought of justice I didn’t know what kind of justice all light equal to all other light then it changed, the light like an uncertain morning a waxing dawn that spread all over Friulian fields and canals struggling workers in the light the rising dawn was a light I mean beyond the eternity of style in history, justice has been the realization of a humane distribution of money, hope maybe, brighter than that new light            Copyright © 2015 by Brandon Brown. Used with permission of the translator. About This Poem   “‘The Resistance and Its Light’ was translated during a moment of personal grief in which Pasolini’s structured luminescence was a balm. It’s from his book Roman Poems.” —Brandon Brown   Brandon Brown is the author of Top 40 (Roof Books, 2014). He lives in Oakland, California.             Pier Paolo Pasolini was born on March 5, 1922, in Bologna, Italy. He was a film director and a poet. His books include La meglio gioventù (1954) and Poesia in forma di rosa (1964). Pasolini died in 1975.   Photo credit: Publifoto/Black Star   Most Recent Book by Brown   Top 40 (Roof Books, 2014) "there is no flash" by Metta Sáma "The Coming of Light" by Mark Strand "The Changing Light" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038