Anne Wilson: "Taranto"

The VPR Poem of the Week is Anne Wilson’s “Taranto,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2004-2005 issue (Volume VI, Number 1) of Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Today’s poem by Anne Wilson is inspired in part by the poetry, life, and death of Federico Garcia Lorca. Ninety years ago, in 1918, Lorca’s first book of poems, Impressions and Landscapes, was published. The release of that poetry began an impressive lifetime of work that was cut short in 1936 when Lorca was executed by fascist militia troops during the Spanish Civil War. His body was disposed in an unmarked mass grave. At Poetry Daily today, readers will find a couple of Lorca’s poems reprinted from the new bilingual edition of his 1930 volume, Poet in New York, translated by Pablo Medina and Mark Statman. The collection was written by Lorca during his nine months as a student at Columbia University.

Anne Wilson has had two collections of poetry: Solea (2004), which won the San Diego Book Award for poetry, and Recuerdos (2005), both released by Finishing Line Press. She also has published widely in literary journals, including Bitter Oleander, Cedar Hill Review, Comstock Review, Evansville Review, Oxford Magazine, Rattle, Rio Grande Review, South Dakota Review, and Weber Studies. Her poetry has appeared in several anthologies, including We Used To Be Wives, E.R., and She Is the Song, I Am the Music. Anne Wilson teaches writing courses at the University of San Diego.

Tuesday of each week “One Poet’s Notes” highlights an exceptional work by a poet selected from the archives of Valparaiso Poetry Review with the recommendation that readers revisit it. Please check the sidebar to view the list of poets and works that have been past “Poem of the Week” selections. Additionally, readers are reminded that VPR pages are best read with the browser font preference in which they were set, 12 pt. Times New Roman, in order to guarantee the stanza alignment and the breaks of longer lines are preserved.