“Di Martino’s imaginative translations refract the light of the originals at unexpected
angles…”

– Anna Aslanyan, Times Literary Supplement

My translation Day Lasts Forever: Selected Poems of Mario dell’Arco, was published on November 12, 2024 by World Poetry Books. I worked on this book for nearly twenty years, since discovering dell’Arco in a long-gone secondhand bookshop in Rome. This will be the first book-length translation into English of one of the leading Romanesco poets of the twentieth century. (Romanesco is the dialect of modern Rome, a rich and expressive variant of Italian.)

POEMS BY MARIO DELL’ARCO

“I Built a Wall”, “Dead Branches”, “Always a Cradle” & “Via dei Cappellari” On the Seawall

“Waning Moon” & “St. Peter’s Square” First Things

“Blackbird” and “The Illiterate Fish” One Art

Available for pre-order at World Poetry Books.

Request a review copy at: publicity [at] worldpoetrybooks.com

I Built a Wall

It’s my fault. Stone by stone
by stone I built a wall
walled myself off from the world.
No way out now.
Even if I wanted to
feel your hand, one
step and I’d crack
my head on that wall.

-Mario dell’Arco