Vol.1 (1) - Pound's — “Sestina: Altaforte”

Pound’s — Sestina: Altaforte

Ferrick Gray

Working with Pound

Volume 1, Issue 1

Prefatory Remarks

I was thumbing through Faber’s 2005 reprint of Pound’s Personæ and came across one of my favorite poems by the master. His Sestina: Altaforte. Personæ was originally published in 1926, with Pound creating a body of his shorter poems. Much of his earlier work was omitted from this definitive edition, as he was prepared to dispose of it. He sought something that would define him as both a person and a poet.

In the Lake

Ferrick Gray

for Poetry Showcase

   fanno Cocito; e qual sia quello stagno,
   tu il vederai: però qui non si conta
   Inferno, Canto XIV—119,120

  Each memory swims in the lake at night.
  In the lake at night, without the Light,
  When all is calm, but my vision is blurred,
  But the burble of water is all that is heard.
  My body is lifeless, so too the thought
  Of what it could be in my memories caught.
  A hope? What hope could there possibly be?
  In the lake at night, on the lake with me.