Poetry 5

An Annotated Bibliography of Italian American Studies

Page 5: Iorio to Masini

Iorio, James. The Fifth Season. Francestown, NH: The Golden Quill Press, 1974.
[Simple truths about love, old age, and the rituals of ordinary life.]

LaMantia, Philip. Selected Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1967.
[A collection of LaMantia's poetry written between 1943 and 1966. This is a volume of the famous Pocket Poets series produced by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.]
Lanza, Carmela Delia. Long Island Girl. San Francisco: Malafemmina Press, 1992.
[Like a family photo album carefully constructed with words. Many of these poems serve as myths through which Lanza shows how we can resurrect our dead if we take the time to meditate on the everyday lives of those we love.]
La Palma, Marina. Half-life. Los Angeles: The Present Press, 1990.
[A collection of poems and prose on family, history and travel.]
---. Persistence. Mendocino, CA: Diderot, 1994.]
[This author fuses her knowledge of world literature with her experience as an Italian American to create a beautiful collection of poetry and prose.]

Malanga, Gerard. 22. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1974.

---. Incantations. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow, 1974.

---. Devotions. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1976.

---. Ten Years After. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow, 1977.

---. Equal Time. Binghamton, NY: Bellevue Press, 1979.
[Malanga is one of the most overlooked poets of the Italian-American experience because his work transcends the direct approach to dealing with identity. Throughout his collections are poems dealing with Italian past and present.]

Mariani, Paul. Timing Devices: Poems. Boston: David R. Godine, 1979.

---. Crossing Cocytus and Other Poems. New York: Grove Press, 1982.

---. Prime Mover. New York: Grove Press, 1985.
[More American than Italian, Mariani nevertheless finds interesting ways to imply a sense of his Italian ancestry in much of his work which explores the creation of families and communities.]
Masini, Donna. That Kind of Danger. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994.
[The clearest connections to Italian culture come through her more autobiographical poems , especially those about her grandparents.]