The Crowded World of Solitude Volume 2: The Collected Poems, Including a Bilingual Section

By Albert Russo

Preface by LEIGH EDUARDO, British poet and musician.

I have never met Albert Russo and yet, through his writing, I feel I have had that privilege. He possesses that rare and enviable talent of being able to say what is important in a very few words. His contributions to the literary world are amazingly varied, reminding one of an intellectual butterfly - able to flit from one topic to another, but having first drained it of its essential qualities. Russo writes at all levels - a compulsive creator who is always going to have something important, or different , or both, to say. His work reaches into the very soul of contemporary living. Here, one comes to grips with many contemporary problems, all beautifully crafted and possessing the Russo hallmark of subtle observation. Each poem is a gem in its own right.

Albert Russo possesses that rare and enviable talent of being able to say what is important in a very few words. His contributions to the literary world are amazingly varied, reminding one of an intellectual butterfly - able to flit from one topic to another, but having first drained it of its essential qualities -, a compulsive creator who is always going to have something important, or different , or both, to say. Here, one comes to grips with many contemporary problems, all beautifully crafted and possessing the Russo hallmark of subtle observation. Each poem is a gem in its own right.

EXPECTANCY

theres a world at peace and theres a world at war
the frontiers between the two shift and overlap
like waves over the breakers at low tide
and as you watch the evening news
you feel your heart skitter across the water
on the safe side, or so you will yourself to believe
but when in the dead of night you switch off the bedlamp
the rumblings under your skin
at first distant and familiar
start sending out portentous signals
then, somewhere around the solar plexus
theres an expectancy of pain
searing as the alarm caused by a misfired thunder
it shoots through the arteries to the cortex
making the flesh quiver in its wake
and suddenly the echo of a reverberating crackle
turns your entire body into an electric web
so tightly packed you instinctively
embrace all the destructive power
of mankinds folly N E W S ! N E W S ! N E W S !
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RUNNER-UP:
# The Crowded World of Solitude: Volume 2, Albert Russo


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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 2, 2005
• ISBN: 9781462814985

Book preview

Copyright © 2005 by Albert Russo.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

26769

CONTENTS

Biography

Acknowledgments

Preface by LEIGH EDUARDO,

Introductions in English and in French to the bilingual poems

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

DISSOLVING THE MASQUERADE

L’ART DE LA MASCARADE

THE ROUNDNESS OF YOU

LE GALBE DE TON CORPS

THE PRISONS OF LOVE

LES GEOLES DU COEUR

REVENGE BY PROXY

VENGEANCE PAR PROCURATION

FOREVER DISCOVERING AMERICA

L’AGE DE L’AMÉRIQUE

ATAVISM

ATAVISME

PIXEL POWER

PUISSANCE PIXEL

LETTER TO LENI RIEFENSTAHL, WINTER 2002

LETTREÀ LENI RIEFENSTAHL, HIVER 2002

ROMAmante, ROMAladra

BABELVISIONS

HAIKU RAINBOW

IT

HE LEFT THIS PLACE

MONZA

CHILDREN’S PLIGHT

PLEA

A STRANGER AT HOME

FETTERED DREAMS

HAIKU PANGS

CHANGE OF SEASON

BAUBLEVISION

WINGS OF FREEDOM

HAIKUS TO MEDITATE

THE MENACE

HAIKU GORE

DEAR OLD AUNTIE

ARTIST REVENGE

SCENARIO FOR THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY

PAST TENSE

WARPED VALUES

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

ULTIMATELY YOURS

HEARTBEATS

HAIKU RAP

SCREENS

RELENTLESSLY YOURS

ANIMA

INTERCITY HAIKU

DRIFTING APART

THE ONGOING RIDDLE

COUNT NO MORE

ECHOES OF AN EMPTY HOME

ROLLERSKATE DREAMS

THE GREAT DIVIDE

BY FEAR POSSESSED

CHANCE ENCOUNTER

SPANISH LIMERICKS

THE POWER OF WORDS

INNOCENCE RECLAIMED

ECZEMA

THE CAT, THE SNAIL AND THE LIZARD

LADY LUCIA, THE GARDEN QUEEN

THE BEETLE, THE SQUIRREL AND THE PUSSYCAT

SAD SAVAGE SOCIETY

GAP AS IN GALAXY

SOUL SEARCHING

UNFAIRY TANKA TALE

SOUR GRAPES

WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?

INVOKING NATURE

FORGETFUL GODS

ONCE A POET, TWICE A NOMAD

OVER AND DONE WITH

SECOND THOUGHTS: A HAIKU SEQUENCE

HAIKU PLEAS TO A CONCUBINE

HAIKU BLUES

REMNANTS OF APARTHEID

GAMES OF HIDE AND SEEK

HAIKU TIDBITS

IN THE GARDENS OF VILLA BORGHESE

HAIKU DREAMS

FAITH

LOVELORN

SOLOMONIC ATTEMPT

GENEALOGY OF A HEART

HAIKU ODE TO A SAGE

HAIKU GLIMPSES

FROM MAGMA TO MAN RAY

BORROWED LIFE

PASSAGE

WRIT IN BLOOD

HIT & MISS

FULL HOUSE

ONE’S ART, ANOTHER’S POISON

A PLANET’S REVOLUTIONS

VIRTUAL HAIKUS

BEYOND THE SCREEN

HAIKU MUSINGS AT THEZOO

BREAKDOWN

ROMAN HAIKU MUSINGS

FLESH TO FOSSIL

THE CROWDED WORLD OF SOLITUDE

THE SOUL CARRIER

HAIKU HUMOR

HAIKU RIDDLES

HAIKU FOR THE SOUL

CUTTING THROUGH HUMAN COMMUNICATION

DEGRADATION

THE PANDA, THE OSTRICH AND THE KANGAROO

UNTAMED

CODE OF ETHICS

TRADING PLACES

STRAPPED

TALES OF A PIANOFORTE

THE AIR WE BREATHE

SHADOWBOXING

THE SPLIT

FACE TO FACE

THE BIG BANG

POISONOUS BLOOD

THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE

ON A QUIET HOT MIDAFTERNOON

RIDDLE

VARIATION ON SADKO

SARAH BERNHARDT

SECRETS OF LIFE

STARSTRUCK

A TUTSI TRAGEDY

A UFO WHIZZES PAST HER TEMPLE

WORDS

ALONG THE HUMAN TRAIL

BUGATTI AND BUTTERFLIES

CACOPHONY

THE COLIBRI

DREAM SHUTTLE

ELLE-LUI-HMS

A FACT OF LIFE

GAMES AND THE GODDESS

FROM DUST TO DUST

THE GAP

IN PALERMO’S CATACOMBS

NEW ROSES FOR LISBON

MY DAKOTA

INTORE DANCERS

THE LADY IN BLUE

AIMING

BIDDING FAREWELL

BOOMERANG

CAUSE AND EFFECT

CAN THE HEART CONTAIN IT ALL?

CONDITIONED REFLEX

COCKTAIL PARTY

TO DEFINE IS TO …

THE ETERNAL QUESTION

THE DAY OF THE OPENING

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

CONTINUUM

HIGH TECH GENUS

A HOME TOO FULL, A HOME TOO EMPTY

HAIKU TRIVIA

HAIKU MOODS

HAIKU EGO

HAIKU EMOTIONS

SPANISH HAIKU

HOMO NIPPONICUS

0 ARMENIA

PERSPECTIVES

THE PLUNDERING OF GOD’S LITTLE ACRE

3 PM IN THE SHADE

SPURIOUS CLAIMS

THE POISON WITHIN

HAIKU OFFERING TO MY FELLOW POETS

BRINKMANSHIP

HEMISPHERES

HEART TO HEART

A TASTE OF SAKE

EXPECTANCY

UNTOUCHABLE

THE PERUVIAN GODDESS

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

PRETENDERS & APPROXIMATORS

ASPIRATIONS

UTOPIA REVISITED

MIRRORING GENERATIONS I

MIRRORING GENERATIONS II

TELL ME

THE DEVIL INSIDE

THE JESTER OF ALL TIME

THE POLITICAL STAR

WHEN WAS IT?

ESTRANGED

TRAILBLAZING

POSSESSION

TUNING TO ANGELS

ADDICTIONS

ETHNIC WAVES

WHEN THE SHIT HITS LA FRANCE

IN THE CLOUDS

THROUGH THE TUBE MOURNFULLY

CIRCLES AND FATE

LET ME TELL YOU

POETRY & PEANUTS

COLUMNS OF SMOKE

OF HEADACHES AND NOSTALGIA

MISCONCEIVED

MASKING SHADOWS

FALLING OUT OF LOVE

HAIKU MEMORIES

HAIKU CLASHES

HAIKU SPLEEN

HAIKU INFLORESCENCE

THE BATTLE WITHIN

LIVE JEWEL

REDEFINING SIN

POWERLESSNESS

PANDORA DEFYING MYTH

JOY OR NOT JOY

SPACED OUT

NOW, THEN AND FOREVER

THE VIRTUES OF INTERNET

IN THE DOCTOR’S WAITING-ROOM

THE JEWISH HEART OF RHODES

PARISIAN HAIKU

TRANSCONTINENTAL HAIKU

COSMIC MUSINGS

AT THE BOOKFAIR

HAIKU SOLITUDE

17 FIFE AVENUE

TRICK OR TREAT?

STATIONS OF THE MIND

THE BODY POLITIC

THE SILENCE OF TOMBS

ODE TO THE UNSUNG HEROES OF AMERICA

TITANIC BLOW

SHANDY

ROMAN TIDBITS

SLEUTH

BELGIAN HUES

THE ORIGIN OF WAR

MY FELLOW-AUTHORS

THE LION TAMER

A DROWNING NATION

FORGETTING AUSCHWITZ

CYCLADIC HAIKU

TONGUE-TIED

A PAINTER’S LOVING EYE

OF WAR & NATURE

HAIKU SENSATIONS

A QUESTION OF IDENTITY

MOMENTUM

TREMORS

IN ABEYANCE

OF LOVE AND FREEDOM

ANGEL FACE

LADY OF NATURE

CRETAN GLIMPSES

WHOSE TRUTH?

THE GHOSTS OF THE BELGIAN CONGO

REMEMBRANCE OF A CORRECTED

PAST

LICE, WHAT LIES?

A PRIVATE DRAMA

ROMA-NESQUE

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT ADD UP IN LIFE

MODUS RECREANDI

WARNING: YOUR HEART MAY BE ERASED DURING YOUR SLEEP

CAGED IN

FIAMMA’S TESTAMENT

CHOO-CHOO BOY

FIRE AND WATER

THE SPIRAL

OUT OF THE CHAMELEON’S EYE

INNOCENCE LOST

EMERGENCY CALL

THE LEGACY OF PRIMO LEVI

PERISCOPE

A FRIEND’S QUALMS

YOHANNA

IN BETWEEN

THE BEAUTY OF SYMMETRY

SERVANT OR COMPANION?

HEART SEIZURE

GODS OF JUSTICE?

TOUCH OF ETERNITY

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

DELIVERANCE

WISHFUL THOUGHTS

METAL

KISS OF THE MUSE

Further comments on Albert Russo’s works, as well as some reviews

TO SARAH RUSSO, MY BELOVED MOTHER

Biography

A bilingual author, Albert Russo, who also speaks five languages fluently, and has lived on three continents (Africa, North America and Europe), writes in both English and French, his two ‘mother tongues’. He is the recipient of many awards, such as The American Society of Writers Fiction Award, The British Diversity Short Story Award, several New York Poetry Forum Awards, Amelia Prose and Poetry awards and the Prix Colette, among others. He has also been nominated for the WB. Yeats and Robert Penn Warren poetry awards. His work, which has been praised by James Baldwin, Pierre Emmanuel, Paul Willems and Edmund White, has appeared worldwide in a dozen languages. His African novels have been favorably compared to V.S. Naipaul’s work, which was honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001. He is a member of the jury for the Prix Européen and sat on the panel of the prestigious Neustadt Prize for Literature, which often leads to the Nobel Prize.

His most recent novels: in English: ZANY, ZAPINETTE NEW YORK, MIXED BLOOD and ECLIPSE OVER LAKE TANGANYIKA, all three with Domhan Books (New York); in French: L’AMANT DE MON PÈRE—JOURNAL ROMAIN, ZAPINETTE CHEZ LES BELGES, L’ANCETRE NOIRE, all with Editions Hors Commerce (Paris).

By the same author

*   Eclats de malachite, novel, Editions Pierre Deméyère, Brussels, Belgium, 1971.

*   La Pointe du Diable, novel, Editions Pierre Deméyère, Brussels, Belgium, 1973.

*   Mosaïque Newyorkaise, novella, Editions de l’Athanor, Paris, France, 1975.

*   Albert Russo, Anthology 1, fiction and poetry, Légèreté Press, USA, 1987.

*   Sang Mêlé ou ton fils Léopold, novel, Editions du Griot, Paris, France, 1990.

—   France Loisirs, Paris, France, 1991.

—   Edizioni Libreria Croce, Italian translation by Angela Bonavita, to be published

—   Matica, Serbo-Croatian edition, to be published

*   Le Cap des illusions, novel, Editions du Griot, Paris, France, 1991.

—   German translation, to be published

*   Dans la nuit bleu-fauve / Futureyes, poetry, Le Nouvel Athanor, Paris, France, 1992.

*   Kaleidoscope, poetry, The Plowman, Canada, 1993.

*   Eclipse sur le lac Tanganyika, novel, Le Nouvel Athanor, Paris, France, 1994.

—   Element Uitgevers, Dutch edition, 1996.

*   Venitian Thresholds, fiction and poetry, Bone & Flesh Publications, USA, 1995.

*   Painting the Tower of Babel, poetry, New Hope International, GB, 1996.

*   Zapinette Vidéo, novel, Éditions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 1996.

*   Poetry and Peanuts, poetry, Cherrybite Publications, GB, 1997.

*   Zapinette Video, novel, Xlibris, USA, 1998.

*   Mixed Blood, novel, Domhan Books, USA/GB, 2000.

*   Eclipse over Lake Tanganyika, novel, Domhan Books, USA/ GB, 2000.

*   L’amant de mon père, novel, Le Nouvel Athanor, Paris, France, 2000.

—Edizioni Libreria Croce, Italian translation by Mario Sigfrido Metalli, Rome, Italy, 2002

*   Zapinette à New York, novel, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2000.

*   Zany, Zapinette New York, novel, Domhan Books, USA/GB, 2001.

*   Beyond the Great Water, Vol.1, Collected stories, Domhan Books, USA/GB, 2001.

*   Unmasking Hearts, Vol.2, Collected stories, Domhan Books, USA/GB, 2001.

*   The Age of the Pearl, Vol.3, Collected stories, Domhan Books, USA/GB, 2001.

*   Prisons of Love / Rage d’éolienne, poetry, Le Nouvel Athanor, Paris, France, 2003.

*   Zapinette chez les Belges, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2001.

*   L’amant de mon père II: Journal romain, novel, Editions Hors Commerce, 2003.

*   L’ancêtre noire, novel, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2003.

*   The benevolent American in the heart of darkness, a trilogy of 3 African novels set in the former Belgian Congo and Rwanda- Urundi, Xlibris, USA, 2005.

*   Oh Zaperetta! The hilarious Zapinette series, Xlibris, USA, 2005.

*   Memory gap, an anthology of short fiction, essays and poetry, Xlibris, USA, 2005.

*   The crowded world of solitude / Ce monde peuplé de solitude, bilingual poetry anthology (English/French), Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2005.

*   La Tour Shalom, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2005.

*   Zapinette la Zouloue, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2005.

Collective works

*   All stories, All kinds, TVR, Peninhand Press, USA, 1985.

*   Who’s been sleeping in my brain? bilingual English-German anthology, Suhrkamp Verlag, Germany, 1987.

*   Snow Summits in the Sun, Poetry Anthology, The Cerulean press, USA, 1988.

*   The Cerulean Anthology of Sci-Fi/Outer Space/Fantasy Poetry, USA, 1999.

*   Bibliophilos Poetry Anthology, USA, 2001.

*   ROMAdiva, photography by Albert Russo, texts by Eric Tessier, Albert Russo, Daniel Michelson and Sébastien Doubinsky, in English, French and Italian, Xlibris, USA, 2004.

*   Chinese / puzzle / chinois, photography by Albert Russo, texts by Albert Russo, Daniel Michelson, Eric Tessier and Sébastien Doubinsky, in English and French, Xlibris, USA, 2004.

*   Le tour du monde de la poésie gay (an international anthology of gay poetry), edited and partly translated into French by Albert Russo, Editions Hors Commerce, Paris, France, 2004.

*   AfricaSoul, photography by Albert Russo and Elena Peters, texts by Albert Russo, Eric Tessier, Elena Peters and Jérémy Fraise, in English, French and German, Xlibris, USA, 2005.

The author’s literary website: www.albertrusso.com

Acknowledgments

North America: Confrontation, Amelia, Cicada, The Linden Lane Review, Potpourri, Pearl Muse, The Voyeur, Kindred Spirit, Art/Life magazine, New Thought Journal, Negative Capability, O’zone, St. Cuthbert’s Treasury Annual, Manna, Poetry Northwest, Ally, The Third Eye, The Literary Review, Unveiling, Confluent Education Journal, Verve, Pandora, Frank, The Ecphorizer (a Mensa review), Eureka Literary Magazine, Seedcloud, A Writer’s Choice Literary Journal, Academic & Arts Press, Snow Summits in the Sun Anthology (The Cerulean Press), The Plowman, Légèreté Press, Skyline magazine, Phoenix, River King Poetry Supplement, The Poet, Zephyr, Unveiling, Philadelphia Poets, Quest Publications, Asylum, Postscriptum, Waves, Iliad Press, World News, A Different Drummer, Termino, The Poetry Conspiracy, The New England Anthology of Poetry;

Great Britain: Ambit, The Edinburgh Review, Passport, Interactions, Orbis, Lines Review, Chapman, Peninsular, Helicon, Reach, New Hope International, Psychopoetica, World Wide Writers, The European Journal of Psychology, Prospice, Envoi, Poetry Now, Presence, Time Haiku, The Haiku Quarterly, The Acorn Haiku Anthology, Still, Retort, Buzzwords, Sepia magazine, The Yeats Club, Prospice, Stirred not shaken;

India: Poet, Quest, Chandrabhaga, Replica magazine, Wanderlust, Parnassus of World Poetry, International Poetry, The Still Horizon anthology, The Millenium Peace annual anthologies, The Taj Mahal Review;

Australia: Dreams & Visions;

Africa: Okike (Chinua Achebe’s Review), Prize Africa (Zimbabwe), Papier blanc Encre noire (Kinshasa / Brussels);

Continental Europe: La Nef des Fous, Place aux Sens, L’Autre Journal, Labor, Libération, Poètes et Romanciers à la Bibliothèque Naguib Mahfouz, Les Cahiers du Sens, Odra (Poland), The Auschwitz Foundation Bulletin, Sivullinen, Stranger than Madness, Fremde Verse, Los Muestros, Plurilingual Europe.

Poetry prizes: in the US: Honorable mention in the 2000 Robert Penn Warren poetry contest and Editors’ choice in 2004, several Amelia (California), Pearl Muse and New York Poetry Forum awards, Marguerette Cummins Broadside Award, Editors’ choice award at the National Library of Poetry, Southern California Poetry contest award, etc.

in the UK: The Yeats Club Poetry Award of Merit, several Reach awards and honorable mentions, 2 Best Overseas Poetry awards from the annual AAS (Eileen & Albert Sanders) poetry competitions, Interactions Poetry Award (Jersey), 2003 Forward Press 100 Poets (selected from over 50,000 entries), etc.

in India: the 2002 Millenium Michael Madhusudan Academy Award for Poetry (including a five-day invitation at their Calcutta venue), several poetry awards and honorable mentions from The Poet and Parnassus World Poetry, etc.

Preface

by LEIGH EDUARDO,

British poet and musician.

I have never met Albert Russo and yet, through his writing, I feel I have had that privilege. He possesses that rare and enviable talent of being able to say what is important in a very few words. His contributions to the literary world are amazingly varied, reminding one of an intellectual butterfly—able to flit from one topic to another, but having first drained it of its essential qualities.

Russo writes at all levels—a compulsive creator who is always going to have something important, or different, or both, to say. He tackles any subject matter with the same enthusiasm by which his work suggests he lives. Certainly, he can never be considered squeamish!

Russo’s latest work is proof of this. It’s a collection which reaches into the very soul of contemporary living. While the images are well-observed, they are essentially poetic, satisfying even the most literary’s heart lust for colourful verbal epitomising. Here, one comes to grips with many contemporary problems, all beautifully crafted and possessing the Russo hallmark of subtle observation.

It’s usual in a collection for one or two pieces to stand out above the rest, rather like landmarks on a lovely scene. Russo’s variation and treatment of so many issues makes such selectivity impossible; each poem is a gem in its own right.

Introductions in English and in French to the bilingual poems

The Roundness of Albert Russo

To be a multilingual reader is bliss, we know. To be a multilingual writer must be a curse. Imagine receiving the inspiration for a poem, and then, instead of being able to plunge right in to create it, having to stop before setting down a single word in order to decide which of your languages to write it in. How can you tell, beforehand, which of them will do most justice to your idea? Well, I should think you cannot. You can rely only on the same spark that gave you your initial impetus: try one and then see. So that poetry, already difficult enough to create in any language, becomes even more difficult, requiring not only the right- on choices of the components of an individual language, but also the fateful choice of which language risks being most propitious. Of course, risk is an operative word in any attempt at creativity, but doubling that risk is surely doubling the hazards of failure. Albert Russo does not fail.

In the twelve poems that follow, each in both an English and French version, I don’t know and I don’t want to know in which of the two languages Albert Russo wrote some or all of them first and then rewrote them all over again from scratch in the other language. But what I do know—what leaps from the page—is that he has tremendous courage.

Courage to take risks, courage to trust his creative urgings, courage to rely on his multilingualism (in these pages mostly reduced to bilingualism), and even more courage to present his resultant findings to the public. There are fewer of us out here who can read equally well in French as in English than there used to be perhaps, but there are certainly fewer still who can write equally well in both languages, of which Albert Russo is eminently one of the best, and not only in poetry. And I must add that his publishers are courageous, too, for, after all, considerably less than half the book-buying public is bilingual.

As to these bilingual works themselves, the interest in reading how the same original impetus worked itself out in each of the two different languages is self-evidently enormous, and revelatory of the separate qualities of the two. For it has to be said that none of these poems is a translation and still less an adaptation from one tongue into the other. Whichever came first, the English or the French, the other is a refining of the original ore through a different method of smelting. Or, to put it differently, it is like two painters depicting the same rocks at Normandy’s Etretat, with their different palettes. For I put it to you that there are two entirely different poets at work here, a French-language one and an English-language one, and they are both named Albert Russo.

It seems to me that Russo’s Francophone poetry evokes a musical fragrance that Russo’s Anglophone poetry does not. At the same time, however, as though by way of revenge, the latter has a flat no-nonsense directness that aims to say no more and no less than what it intends, and in a species of illuminated nakedness, which is not at all the aim of the former. And yet (here is what is miraculous) both versions pierce down into the foundations of the original vision’s truth. Now this, I would submit, is quite an achievement, exemplifying a talent possessing resources way beyond mere bilingualism, especially since, throughout, we are offered the gift of an accurate reflection of the intrinsic genius of the French and English tongues themselves.

One example will suffice to highlight what I mean. In the poem that contains the word Pixel in both titles, here is the end of the fifth stanza in English:

until your office became fitted with computers and the Asian-made portables followed you from doorstep to car, from taxi to plane.

I would call this pinpoint verbal accuracy, where the poetry arises not merely through careful choice of vocabulary but considerably more through the quality and accuracy of the images employed, and in any event not through any extracurricular emanation of what is customarily called music.

Here is the equivalent passage in French:

à présent ton bureau est bardé d’ordinateurs

et de gadgets à puces fabriqués

dans l’une des quatrepatries où le tigre était roi.

I would call this not only music, music that is beyond mere rational sense, but a musical crescendo, where the violins sweep us onwards and upwards until kettledrums pound out the last three words.

It would be futile as well as meaningless to argue which of these vastly different versions is better. But it has to be said that, provided each version is read several times, alternatively, a certain authorial roundness is achieved through the reader’s growing perception of the by-play of Franco-English counterpoint, because (1) each version in its own way says something at once different from and more than the other version says, (2) each version sheds light on what the other does say, and (3) a nuance held secret in the final line of each is fully disclosed in the final line of the other. Most astonishing of all, these paired-off arias (decidedly not duets!) successfully arrive at giving us precisely the

Reviews for The Crowded World of Solitude Volume 2

[albertrusso · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Preface by LEIGH EDUARDO, British poet and musician. I have never met Albert Russo and yet, through his writing, I feel I have had that privilege. He possesses that rare and enviable talent of being able to say what is important in a very few words. His contributions to the literary world are amazingly varied, reminding one of an intellectual butterfly - able to flit from one topic to another, but having first drained it of its essential qualities. Russo writes at all levels - a compulsive creator who is always going to have something important, or different , or both, to say. His work reaches into the very soul of contemporary living. Here, one comes to grips with many contemporary problems, all beautifully crafted and possessing the Russo hallmark of subtle observation. Each poem is a gem in its own right. �Albert Russo possesses that rare and enviable talent of being able to say what is important in a very few words. His contributions to the literary world are amazingly varied, reminding one of an intellectual butterfly - able to flit from one topic to another, but having first drained it of its essential qualities -, a compulsive creator who is always going to have something important, or different , or both, to say. Here, one comes to grips with many contemporary problems, all beautifully crafted and possessing the Russo hallmark of subtle observation. Each poem is a gem in its own right.�