Close-up

Curated by George Elliott Clarke When poet Leonard Gasparini passed away in October 2022, aged 81, lost was one of the most dynamic connections to the first modern(ist) generation of “Italo-Canadian” poets, I mean, those – like Pier Giorgio Di Cicco – who coruscated across the pages of Di Cicco’s trailblazing anthology, Roman Candles (1978). Compiled here are eight reminiscences…

It may have been a spoonful of sugar for the family, yet it always left a bitter taste on my tongue. As we sat to a steaming bowl of pasta, it would show up uninvited but never unexpected. With each passing week, another phone call announced a new wedding engagement. Come lunchtime every Sunday, my grandmother, Nonna Carmela, couldn’t help…

I’ve never visited Grace Street, but draft an image from my mother’s stories. The brick is brownish-yellow; a leafless skeleton of ivy radiates in snow. Neighbour noises leak into the front lawn—the rattle of a gate rammed shut, followed by ma va fa’un— chicka-dee-dee-dee splitting through street, trash and compost huddle on the curb. Slabs of concrete escort you past…