Ilaria Boffa is an Italian poet and sound recordist. She writes bilingual poetry and she has published four poetry collections to date. She is one of the eight authors included in the North East American Publication Writing in a Different Language, Vol. XL 2018. Her sono-poems, which combine poetry and field recording, have been played at international experimental sound art festivals and radio events (among others, Radiophrenia and Clyde Built Radio both in Glasgow). Audio-video installations, produced in collaboration with international video-artists, have been exhibited at the Mahalla Festival Murmuration 2021 in Turkey, the Nature & Culture Poetry Film Festival 2021 in Sweden, at the !Flick! 2023 International Film Festival in the US and MK Architektur Exhibition 2023 in Germany. She is a permanent member of EAPS international collective working with poetry and sound art and she is collaborating with the Swiss theatre group Collettivo Treppenwitz.
About Beginnings & Other Tragedies / Inizi e Altre Tragedie
Beginnings & Other Tragedies / Inizi e Altre Tragedie is a bilingual book-length poem, with both texts written by the original poet, offering a choral experience of a present-future Venice where almost all hope seems lost – except for that offered by poetry itself, and the "beginners" who care about our planet and dream of making a change.
Drawing on nature poetry, dystopian fiction and Greek tragedy (three characters voice the verses: the chorus, "they" and "she"), the book reimagines scientific and ecological language as sites of beauty, with the power to change reality; seen here as something malleable and unstable, to be made and remade.
Through confronting the most painful, discomforting parts of the world and ourselves, this long poem reminds us why "it's good to think difficult things," and why it may be time to repurpose ourselves and start again.
A soundscape for the book has been recorded and produced by the author. Listen here. You can read more about Beginnings & Other Tragedies / Inizi e Altre Tragedie on the publisher's website here. Below, you can read excerpts from the book.
From Beginnings & Other Tragedies / Inizi e Altre Tragedie, by Ilaria Boffa
English
(chorus)
Because of necessity it happens to live
because of belongingness it happens to become
(they)
Ode for the Beginners
Whatever comes to pass
time will file the time
and this extraordinary wait.
The drama and the epic
the events that befall
the beginners
invoke glory and rage.
Because of necessity
they happen to live
because of belongingness
they happen to become.
There’s no difference between
starting and starting over for
what was or wasn’t done
cycles with the stringency
of a climate loop.
And the silence of hesitation
saturates the air condensing
inside the mask
accelerating the dew point.
It muffles this new normal.
Beginners challenge
the so called tragedy
of the time horizon
in which people can’t imagine
the suffering of the humans
of the future and
nothing much gets done
on their behalf.
Beginners are seamless
and they care.
Some of them give in.
…
Tintoretto paintings
at Scuola Grande di San Rocco
also suffer, hung and apart
from a fallen world.
They survive dazed
in their rooms.
And so St Mary of Egypt
sits contemplative
her book on her lap
her gaze upon the bush.
The mesh of humans, in-humans and post-humans
all their devices, languages and frequencies
crossing halls
up and down the stairs
next of kin and familiar strangers.
When did we lose
our sense of marvel?
…
(she)
Daylight saving time is finally over.
As the rain pours and spatters
the dogs with mud
magpies seek shelter and give way
to snails and earthworms
to their composure.
A cumulonimbus above the hills
we start running.
The real issue is rhythm.
On the leash they pull asynchronous
and the rubbery noise of the wellies
is not promising.
I might crash to the ground
and be dragged by these two furies or
the river in flood could overflow and
have a memorable ending in store.
Italian
(coro)
Per necessità succede di vivere
per appartenenza succede di divenire
(loro)
Ode a Coloro che Iniziano
Qualunque cosa accada
il tempo archivierà il tempo
e questa straordinaria attesa.
Il dramma e l’epopea
gli eventi che accadono
a chi comincia
suscitano gloria e rabbia.
Per necessità
succede di vivere
per appartenenza
succede di divenire.
Non c’è differenza tra
iniziare e ricominciare perché
ciò che è stato o non è stato fatto
si ripete con l’intransigenza
dei cicli climatici.
E il silenzio dell’esitazione
satura l’aria che condensa
all’interno della mascherina
accelerando il punto di rugiada.
Attutisce questa nuova normalità.
Coloro che iniziano sfidano
la cosiddetta tragedia
dell’orizzonte temporale
per cui le persone non riescono
a immaginare la sofferenza
degli esseri umani del futuro e
poco viene speso a loro favore.
Coloro che iniziano sono senza soluzione
di continuità e a loro importa.
Alcuni si arrendono.
…
Anche i dipinti del Tintoretto
alla Scuola Grande di San Rocco
soffrono, appesi e lontani
da un mondo in decadimento.
Sopravvivono disorientati
nelle loro stanze.
E così siede contemplativa
Santa Maria Egiziaca
il libro sulle ginocchia
lo sguardo al bosco.
La rete di umani, non umani, post umani
i loro device, linguaggi e frequenze
quel passare attraverso i saloni
su e giù per le scalinate
parenti prossimi e familiari estranei.
Quand’è che abbiamo perso
il senso della meraviglia?
…
(lei)
È terminata l’ora legale finalmente.
Mentre la pioggia scroscia e
schizza di fango i cani
le gazze cercano rifugio e lasciano
il passo a lumache e lombrichi
al loro contegno.
Un cumulonembo sopra i colli
cominciamo a correre.
Il vero problema è il ritmo.
Al guinzaglio tirano in modo asincrono
e il rumore gommoso degli stivali
non promette nulla di buono.
Potrei schiantarmi al suolo
e venir trascinata da queste due furie o
il fiume in piena potrebbe
riservarci un finale memorabile.
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