Terminal Events

This last book by the late poet (1926 - 2020) ends a life in poetry well-planned: it presents an imagined discourse with poet Eugenio Montale, a fanciful and self-deprecatory autobiography, and a liberation of the planet Earth from the cruelty of man, with de Palchi's characteristic rage against violence, glorification of Mother Nature and love of freedom much in evidence. Translated by John Taylor. Edited by Karl Kvitko. Cover art by Luce de Palchi. Amazing Alfredo de Palchi! Ever since the turn of the century, which also coincides with his increasing and serious health problems, the hard-working and very determined Italian poet continues to aim his frank and fierce poetry at endings, not to mention apocalypses. Although this theme is also present in his early work, it nonetheless now stands in greater contrast to another key theme that runs through his previous writing: the search for and examination of the origin, the first principle, or the first cause... the whole scope of a lifetime for this poet whose passion for living, writing poetry, and publishing work by other poets has deeply impressed all of us who have had the chance of working with him and knowing him well.--John Taylor Poetry.

About the Author :
Alfredo de Palchi (1926-2020) was one of the major Italian poets of the last century and the beginning of the present century. He was born in Legnano, near Verona. As a teenager in World War II Italy, he was grabbed by self- proclaimed authorities, charged with a murder and thrown into prison. There he was tortured, but refused to confess. A fellow prisoner told him about François Villon, and he scratched his first poem on the wall of his cell. He spent the years of 1945-1951 in prison. In 1955 the Court of Assizes in Venice cleared him of charges, and after sojourns in Paris and Barcelona he came to America. Continuing to publish in his native tongue in Italy, he published bilingual editions of his work in New York with deft English translations, first by Isidore Salomon, then by Sonia Raiziss, and lastly by John Taylor. More than any other person in America, he faithfully promoted Italian poetry and prose, both with the New York journal Chelsea, which he ran from 1960 to 2007, and with his non-profit publishing house Chelsea Editions, which remained active up to the time of his death in August from leukemia. His first poetry collection, Sessioni con l'analista [Sessions with My Analyst], appeared in 1967 with Mondadori and won immediate acclaim. In the United States, following Sessions, he published exclusively with Xenos Books: THE SCORPION'S DARK DANCE (1993), ANONYMOUS CONSTELLATION (1997), ADDICTIVE AVERSIONS (1999), NIHIL (2017), THE AESTHETICS OF EQUILIBRIUM (2019) and now TERMINAL EVENTS (2020). He issued his collected works in 2013 with Chelsea Editions under the title PARADIGM: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS 1947-2009. John Taylor (b. 1952) has translated many key French, Italian, and Modern Greek poets, including, for The Bitter Oleander Press, books by Jacques Dupin, José- Flore Tappy, and Pierre Voélin. He is the author of several volumes of short prose and poetry, including IF NIGHT IS FALLING and REMEMBRANCE OF WATER & TWENTY-FIVE TREES.