Claudio Damiani was born in San Giovanni Rotondo in the province of Foggia in 1957, though at an early age he moved to Rome, where he still lives. In the first half of the '80s he was among the founders of the magazine Braci. His first volume of poetry, Fraturno (1987), and the following, La mia casa (1994), have been collected in La miniera (Fazi, 1997, the title taken from the new section that closes the book. Other volumes of poetry are Eroi (Fazi, 2000), Attorno al fuoco (Avagliano, 2006), Sognando Li Po (Marietti, 2008), Poesie (Fazi, 2010), Il fico sulla fortezza (Fazi, 2012) and Cieli celesti (Fazi 2016). A passionate scholar of poetry, especially the poetic works of Horace, he has also written Il rapimento di Proserpina for the theatre.
"The reference to a defined and circumscribed place in which alone his poems seem to find the intimacy and emotional stability necessary to their existence is characteristic of Damiani. But if the Horatian scenes of Sabina (the Bandusian spring, Lake Fraturno, a house, a few trees and animals) refer to a type of modern Arcadia, their specific quality is above all to approach a voice that is internal and literally poetic, refound and guarded iike an unexpected and precious gift. Between the poet and the presences of his chosen piace, which are, not coincidentally, anthropomorphic figures, a type of loving dialogue develops, without hierarchy, which only friendship and mutual solicitude can justify and guarantee. This leads to an extreme simplification of expression, distancing the poetical discourse from any kind of intellectuai or reflective complexity, as well as from literary references. The result is a simple language, playing on child-like innocence and surprise, underlining the authenticity of the few, but vital, feelings and situations".(Roberto Galaverni, Contemporary Italian Poets, Modern Poetry in translation no. 15, 1999).

 

How lovely that this time (Translated by John Satriano)

Three Poems translated by Emanuel di Pasquale

Poems translated by John Satriano

If time could glide with no wounds (translated by Luigi Fontanella)

Embraced we walked through the alleys of Rome (Translated by Giulia Argentieri, Bron Treanor and Jordan McCord)

Mount Soratte, it’s evening (Translated by Elena Buia and Andrew Rutt)

Anio Novus (Translated by Martin Bennett)

 

 

Franco Buffoni, Italian Contemporary Poets, Fuis, 2016

New Italian Poetry, An Anthology, Edited by A. Moscè, Gradiva Publications, Stony Brook, New York, 2006, Tr. Emanuel Di Pasquale, pp. 204-209

Journal of Italian Translation, Vol. I, No. 2, 2006, Editor L. Bonaffini, Tr. Luigi Fontanella, pp. 168-169

Modern Poetry in Translation No. 15, Contemporary Italian Poets, King’s College London, 1999, Tr. John Satriano, pp. 31-34