Massimo Sannelli, an Italian poet says:--

“For better of worse, the relationship between Italian poetry and mental illness is as tragic as necessary; we are a self-evident energy that wants to be considered external: the thing called «Love» (illness, melancholy) inspires and legitimizes the most wonderful part of Italian poetry. This is THE question: Who is (and where is) the communicator in us? In my opinion, our Sublime is this verbal flowing, this tragedy, and this danger. There is a tremendous number of Italian writers and poets, in our times: but they live and write as if our language (and regional country) were compact and sure, and as if our literature were not born to put out what is too heavy (love or desperation) to stay in the mind. This is the history of a weight and of a need.”(On our mind in this issue of Kritya)

These thoughts take me long back to the period of the Upanishads, where relation between speech and mind is the second step in the effort to achieve supreme delight. Most of the books including the Mahabharata attach prime importance to control of the mind. One of the questions that the Yaksha asked Yudhishtira was who was faster than air, and Yudhishtira gave the correct reply that it was the mind. Thus most of our ancient literature talks about mind as if it were an unreined horse which is to be controlled. But while reading poetry I always feel that the freedom of mind is most significant for poetry. A poet has to pass through the jungle of the mind before creating his/her own world of poetry. Sometimes I feel that exercising too much control over the mind may hinder the poetic imagination. It is also true that a lack of control can lead to tremendous mental agitation, piloting the creative writer to a stage when he loses sight of the fine margin that divides life and death. That may be the reason why death is a very interesting subject for poets.

This issue of Kritya is dedicated to Italian poetry. As Massimo Sannelli says in her article, Italian poetry is not much known around the world for a lack of good translations and because most of these poets are neither bilingual nor much interested in taking their poetry out into the world. But at Kritya, we feel that we must enjoy one of the most sophisticated bodies of poetry in the world, poetry written in the language which has produced a fine poet like Dante. Kritya is thankful to Dr.Usha who introduced us to Gian Paolo Guerini, an Italian poet. Yes, the guest editor of this special issue is Gian Paolo Guerini, who compiled contemporary Italian poetry for this issue. Also as another highlight we have an essay by Massimo Sannelli, which take us on a tour through Italian poetry. Editors’ Choice this time is Amelia Rosselli translated by Deborah Woodard and Giuseppe Leporace. Amelia Rosselli, who had a passion for death, throws open before us a world of intense emotions which is much beyond a person with a controlled mind. While talking about Italian poetry one cannot forget Dante Alighieri, a poet who celebrated the poetic paradise. We are presenting Cesar Pavese’s ‘Disaffections’ translated by Geoffrey Brock. Thus we can have an intimate glance at Italian poetry. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all poets who have contributed to this special issue.
The paintings at the top of the pages in this issue are Old Italian paintings, mostly taken from the net. But the other paintings were sent by our artist Amit Kalla, whose art has been greatly appreciated by Kritya’s readers in our previous issues.

Friends, our effort as always, is to bring poetry belonging to different languages together upon one platform through Kritya, and for this we need your support.

Once again-

Hail to the mind! Hail to Italian poetry!


Rati Saxena

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The poems, articles and reviews published in Kritya are received by e-mail. The views, themes etc. expressed therein are solely those of the respective writers, and not of the publishers or editors of Kritya. The credentials of the writers are those that they provide via e-mails and most of the writers are not personally known to the publishers and editors.