Ariadne’s Notes: the World Poetry Café Radio Show , SHOW LINK CFRO 100.5 FM with producer and host, Ariadne Sawyer, Neall Ryon, Anita Aguirre Nieveras and super operator Victor Schwartzman, welcomed the talented poet and author Diego Bastianutti to the show. Bastianutti, a former host of the World Poetry Café was there to promote a special project of poems and photos, “Forget me not East Van”! An Exhibit of photographs and poems to be hosted at the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan St., Vancouver September 15 to October 5, 2016. www.jonbertelli.com
http://www.co-mag.net/2012/vancouver-jon-guido-bertelli/
World Poetry Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, Dr. Diego Bastianutti born in Italy, has been a walker who has crossed borders and frontiers separating States and states of mind. He speaks several languages, continues to travel extensively and currently lives in Vancouver
Since his arrival in Vancouver he has actively contributed to the city’s cultural scene. Quite apart from his academic publications, some of his creative works are A Major Selection of the Poetry of Giuseppe Ungaretti: translated by Diego Bastianutti. Toronto: Exile Editions, 1997, 466 pp., which received the 1998 John Glassco Prize for best translation in English of a foreign literary work.
Il punto caduto, 1993 (poetry), La barca in secco. 1995 (poetry), Per un pugno di terra/ For a Fistful of Soil., 2006 (Poetry). This volume received the prestigious international literary prize in May 2008: Premio Letterario Trieste Scritture di Frontiera 2008 dedicated to Umberto Saba and others.
This is what he has to say about what and why he writes:
“We don’t chose where we are born or what we do. We are all live within some form of limitation, some imposed, some of our own making. But by breaking down the imprisoning logic of language, we can also break the logic of the system to which we have been conditioned to respond. Having experienced it myself, I fully understand the trauma involved in any type of loss, from the loss of love to the loss of a job, but also of one’s mother tongue, of one’s culture and place of birth, and even of one’s own given name.
The loss of the sense of worth and dignity, the loss of belonging to one’s community leads many individuals to suffer a trauma and a gradual de-personalization, with a consequent loss of identity. Some find a way back into society thanks to their character, others by wearing a defensive mask, yet others by escaping into another form of hell, drug addiction.
Part of the healing journey is being active whether with our hands or with our mind. I see poetry and literature as a way to open new windows in a dark world, to light the spark of freedom through the word, to throw open the gates in the prisons of our minds. All forms of creativity are an attempt to weave the thread we need to stitch together the tears in our society, to erase the misconceptions that divide us all.
More information on the exhibit!
“Forget me not East Van”: an Exhibit of photographs and poems to be hosted at the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan St., Vancouver September 15 to October 5, 2016.
Photographer Guido Jon Bertelli and poet and writer Dr. Diego Bastianutti, both of us, Italians of international repute who are recurrently invited to represent Italians at prestigious events worldwide (see attached CVs), captured our direct personal experiences of the Downtown East Side (“DTES”) in our photographs, poetry and media interviews, independently one from the other. Once our paths crossed, we discovered that our perspectives aligned. Born of this synchrony came the perhaps obvious vision of a joint exhibit of our work. The aim – to feature, with respect and compassion, the pride and dignity of a disenfranchised humanity.
The absorbing images and the profound poems send a powerful message to the viewers by focussing a sharp light on the largely misunderstood and seemingly irresolvable challenges of those living on the streets of our City, and thousands of other cities, large and small. Some of the underlying causes of drug addiction begin to be explored and highlighted in the audio element of the exhibit. The project highlights and causes those in attendance to reflect on how these addictions are not only devastating individual lives, but destroying our social fabric.” www.jonbertelli.com
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