I have begun to add readings of poems to my YouTube channel (sidewaysstation). For the time being there are five, but I'll be adding more over time.
Poems on YouTube
Poems read aloud
I've been recording poems for a while in a new section of the site entitled "Poems read aloud". Click on the link to go to the index (also on the second line of the main menu at the top of the page).
Giorgio Caproni – Siren Song (Sirena) – translation
Siren song My city with its uphill loves, my Genoa all full of sea and steps and, rising from the harbour, whirlpools of living life all the way up to reach the ridges of the sheet-metal roofs, now with what forcefulness inside me, here where each word has turned to lead, does it quiver... Continue Reading →
The Cats will know – Pavese – translation
(My translation of Cesare Pavese's poem "The Cats will know") The Cats will know (Cesare Pavese) Again the rain will fall on your sweet paving stones, a gentle rain just like a breath or like a footfall. Again the breeze, the dawn, will lightly bloom, as underneath your step when you return. Among... Continue Reading →
Missions to the Moon – Ariosto and Calvino
In the age when the world was as yet new when early humans lacked experience, without the shrewdness of the present day, beneath a lofty mountain, with a peak that seemed to touch the sky, a people, whose name I do not know, lived on the valley floor who... Continue Reading →
Haikus for explaneedfuls
Some people (I call them explaneedfuls) need an explanation for everything and often an explanation of the explanation as well. A long time ago I met one of them. I was asked to go to a TV studio in Italy to assist the host of a programme covering the Oscar awards ceremony. I thought I... Continue Reading →
L’Infinito by Giacomo Leopardi (Infinity)
Giacomo Leopardi is generally described as the greatest Italian lyric poet but you don't really need to know anything about him to appreciate his poem L'Infinito. I see the title often translated as The Infinite, but I am not sure that means anything in English, so I am going to opt for Infinity. Here then... Continue Reading →
The Poetry of Google Translate
And the long road ahead, I go to bed And the long road ahead, I go to bed  Google Translate is amazing when it works. Unfortunately, it only works about half of the time. Even more unfortunately, unless you already know the languages you are trying to translate, there is no way of knowing... Continue Reading →
Aloud – John Skelton – To Mistress Margaret Hussey
Whenever I open an anthology of English poetry this is always one of the first poems I turn to. I love its rhythms. I also think that, although we know nothing about Mistress Margaret Hussey, thousands of people down the centuries after having read this poem have thought they would have liked to meet her.... Continue Reading →
The Sting in Heine’s Tail
Here’s a literal translation of a very short poem by Heinrich Heine followed by the German original. The first two verses are predictable enough but ... I don’t believe in Heaven, of which the little priest speaks; I only believe in your eyes, they are my heavenly light. I don’t believe in the Lord God,... Continue Reading →