Menotti Lerro Quotes

Nothing belongs to us / but dreams / confused images of the night, / voices that we do not distinguish anymore. (From: The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 52)

Poetry cannot be imprisoned in one definition and therefore I myself would have a lot of them, yet no definite and certain definition. I will define, consequently, this literary genre in a different way in comparison with my previous definitions. To being with, I would say that poetry itself is a tool that defines us and the universe, because it is quintessence. (Defining Poetry. From The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011, p. 1)

The infinite is inside / our eyes; / not outside, not in the things / of this world, / but in their shadows. / Night, Death, Blinking, / take us through the universe again, / out of time. (From: The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 40)

Non abbiamo che il corpo. L’anima è un’invenzione, polvere di croce.

When men feel happy, they think of men who love; when they feel sad they think and pray to God.

The carpentry smelt of trees and incense. / My father spread white Vinavil in grooves, / inserted steel nails with two short, intense blows. / I imitated him, little hammer, between my hands, his tools in miniature… / I dreamt about the Trojan horse. / Then in the evening I hid myself / among sawdust: There is no safer place / in the world he said, with open arms. / Nowadays I take no cover / but in his eyes / (in the calm before the storm); / piece by piece I tidy up / our carpentry. (From The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 42)

We deceive ourselves to be the same for our whole life, instead we are other every moment.

Dove sarà mai la luce promessa? C’è forse un paradiso tra le nuvole, riposo nel vento, ristoro nei fondali marini? Dove finisce il buio, l’insonnia, la pazzia, il pianto, la malattia, la morte? Dove si nasconde Dio?

The false teeth that kissed me / remained here / after you went away. / I sometimes look at them / and see you cleaning them again with string, / with a twig from the field / and then blow on them, patiently, with love. / One day, maybe, I will give them to my jaws. (From: The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 20)

Tonight I have no desire to sleep. / I want to remain here until morning / writing poetry. / The heart drowns less slowly / when the pen sheds tears / and the paper dries pain. (From: The Poetry of Menotti Lerro, p. 55)

Credo che alla base di ogni artista ci sia un’assenza.

Lady Giovanna, the cheater of Salerno (first performed on 25 November 2017 at the Marucelliana Library of Florence).

Non c’è giorno senza tenebre e notte senza luce.

Happiness is the illusion of being happy, unhappiness is the fear of being it. A little bit of fear helps you to live in the light, too much strangles you in the dark.

We should live two lives in order to understand the world: one as a man and the other as a woman.