NOTHINGNESS AND ENCHANTMENT

"Nothingness and Enchantment"

Author: Rolando Rizzo

The author writes in his introductory note: "I've agreed to serve as a judge in poetry competitions. Yet, I always have a hard time evaluating a poem. This is why I've published everything, but never a collection of my own poems. I really don't know whether they're worth anything or not. Why decide to publish this collection, then? The reason is simple: every time I've read them in public, I've always received requests for the texts, from ordinary people and from cultured ones. I've seen people moved every time. I've always received heartfelt thanks. Furthermore, (...) a friend showed me some verses that I'd completely forgotten and that she, for twenty years, has loved to reread from time to time. Then I told myself that my verses, regardless of their artistic value, do good and it would be a shame to let them die. I wanted to have them translated into Romanian. Why? I write out of love, out of civic duty. Emigration is a painful richness of our time. I'm an emigrant. I always have been."