Announcing the 11th Annual 30 for 30 Poetry Celebration for National Poetry Month

I’m pleased to announce the eleventh annual 30 for 30 Poetry Celebration, sponsored by Potomac Review, which will once again take place this year on my web site, www.mikemaggio.net

This year’s theme is as follows:

Dreaming of Dreams.  Specifically, I’d like you to take one of your dreams or nightmares and transform it into a poem.  The poem should be dreamlike in its execution and should immerse the reader into a dreamlike experience. Surrealism is the key here.

Your dreamlike poem should be between 20 and 40 lines (no more, no less).

       To participate, please follow these instructions:

  1. Send an email to mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net stating your intent to participate. Do not send any poems at this time but do state in your email where you are from.
  2. The first 30 poets who respond to this call will be selected to submit their poem.
  3. Once the 30-poet limit has been reached, I will randomly assign each poet a day in April when their poem will be due.
  4. Poets must submit their poem at least one day before it is to be posted. Earlier submissions are welcome, but don’t rush your poem.
  5. All poems must be written by the submitting author. Poems should not contain any racist or sexist language.
  6. Poems must be submitted as a Word document or in RTF format (not in the text of the email or in PDF format).
  7. Poets should include a short 1–2-line bio with their poem. A copyright statement should also be included (e.g., Copyright 2024 by [your name]).
  8. All rights automatically revert to the author. Please note that if your poem appears on this web site, it is considered by most journals to have been previously published.
  9. To promote community and discussion, readers and participants are encouraged to post comments on the web site about each of the poems.
  10. At the end of the month, our judge will select the winning poem.
  11. The winning poet will receive a free one-year subscription to Potomac Review.
  12. All poems will be archived on mikemaggio.net. (I am working with George Mason University to archive the web site in their collection which now houses my papers, so your work will be preserved there for future researchers).

This year’s judge is Grace Cavalieri, Maryland’s Poet Laureate and creator and host of The Poet and the Poem, broadcast from the Library of Congress.

If you have any questions, please email mikemaggio@mikemaggio.net. I look forward to your participation.

Share Button
Posted in 30 for 30 Poetry Celebration | Tagged | Leave a comment

Contact the US Ambassador to the UN and Demand a Ceasefire

Contact th US ambassador to the UN and ask that she vote for a ceasefire in Gaza.

To contact the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, you can use the contact form provided on the official website of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Visit the U.S. Mission to the United Nations website at usun.usmission.gov.
  2. Fill out the required fields, including your prefix (e.g., Mr., Ms., Mrs., Miss), first and last name, email, phone number, and the type of address (U.S., Military, or International).
  3. In the “Subject” field, specify that your message is intended for the U.S. Ambassador to the UN.
  4. Write your message, keeping it within the 2,500-character limit.
  5. Complete the CAPTCHA and submit the form.
Share Button
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Contact the US Ambassador to the UN and Demand a Ceasefire

The Qur’an: A Verse Translation

Here is my latest book review of a new English translation of The Qur’an.

Share Button
Posted in Reviews | Tagged | Comments Off on The Qur’an: A Verse Translation

Special Offer: Buy Two Books and Get a Free Critique

For the remainder of February, I am offering a special offer to anyone interested in having their poetry or fiction critiqued. Simply buy two books from those listed below and then follow the instructions at the end of this post to get a free review of your work.

The Appointment

In 2017, my novella, The Appointment, was published by Vine Leaves Press.

A story of an aging professor whose life is caught up in a web of confusion, The Appointmentt is a Kafkaesque tale of alienation, bureaucracy, and merciless academia.

Judith McCombs, author of The Habit of Fire, says that “Maggio’s anti-hero, like Kafka’s K or Tolstoy’s dying Ivan Ilych, fails to find the recognition and human warmth he so desperately needs. The Appointment is a story of existence and mortality and those who avoid human community who are ultimately left totally alone.”

Sophy Burnham, author of A Book of Angels and The Art of Intuition: Cultivating Your Inner Wisdom, calls it “fascinating, colorful, dramatic.”

And Paul Al Falney gives it 5 stars and says that “through twists and turns, the story is reminiscent of Kafka’s The Trial and the best of Rod Serling’s work on The Twilight Zone.”

Letters From Inside: The Best of Mike Maggio

In 2019, Vine Leave Press published Letters From Inside: The Best of Mike Maggio. A collection of short stories that defy logic and tap into unrecognized truths about modern society, the book has been described as a twenty-first century vision of existential dysphoria. Heavily influenced by Franz Kafka and Nikolai Gogol, the collection includes the highly acclaimed “Suddenly, There Was Harold” which has been called his masterpiece.

Rafael Alvarez, Journalist, Television Writer and Author of Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown, writes that “Maggio makes a big splash with this book, a most welcome yet quiet one, undulating ripples of deep and careful prose from the inside of the heart.”

E. Ethelbert Miller, Host of On The Margin WPFW 89.3 FM and author of If God Invented Baseball, says “sometimes Mike Maggio writes like a weaver or sculptor. Sometimes he is simply a magician when it comes to words,” and adds that “Letters From Inside is a collection of twenty-one stories that should be given a home on every bookshelf.”

Let’s Call It Paradise

In 2022, San Francisco Bay Press published Mike Maggio’s groundbreaking poetry collection, Let’s Call It Paradise. Culling text from magazines, internet searches, personal ads and spam messages, the poems examines modern American culture through the lens of consumerism.

In 2023, Let’s Call It Paradise won the International Book Award.

Robert P. Arthur, author of Hymn to the Chesapeake,, calls the book “unforgettable, honest, brilliant, and to the point.”

Grace Cavalieri, Poet Laureate of Maryland and author of The Long Game: Poems Selected and New, writes ““Mike Maggio is a master craftsman. These poems are adventures. Maggio juxtaposes language in ways that break into new energies.”

Eric Pankey, Professor of English, Heritage Chair in Writing, George Mason University and author of The History of the Siege, calls Let’s Call It Paradise “carnivalesque and manic. Be prepared to be surprised. Whatever limits you have put on the possibilities of poetry, Maggio’s poems exceed them.”

Charles Rammelkamp writes that “in these remarkably unique poems, Maggio examines the modern world as if he were a visitor from another planet. The sardonic humor slaps you in the face like a waiter’s damp towel. Indeed, Mike Maggio’s one-of-a-kind Let’s Call It Paradise isn’t read so much as it is experienced.(North of Oxford)

How to Take Advantage of This Offer

Buy any 2 books and I will review and critique 3 of your poems or up to 10 pages of short fiction. Buy all 3, and I’ll add in a special surprise. And if you don’t write and simply love to read, I also have a special surprise for you.

To take advantage of this offer, simply click on the book links to order your copy of Letters from Inside or The Appointment or Let’s Call It Paradise. Then send a copy of your receipts showing the purchase to mikemaggio@mikemaggio,net. I will then send you an email with instructions.

Thanks for reading and for your support.

Mike

Share Button
Posted in Promotions | Tagged | Comments Off on Special Offer: Buy Two Books and Get a Free Critique

Mario Badino – Involucro / The Wrapper

Involucro

Invece non è vero: | chiedilo all’involucro
che porta a spasso il tuo pensiero fondo
in voci dissonanti, | dentro giornate terse
come cristalli dietro la vetrina.

Inventati risposte, | se questo ti conviene:
raccontati che è l’ansia del momento;
intingi il tuo coltello | nella piaga più aperta,
tanto che non ha sangue da buttare.

Indaga le altre vite, | ricerca analogie
per fingere che vivere si possa
inesauditi, privi, | un torsolo di mela
là dove c’era tutto il tuo raccolto.

Invocati attenuanti: | consola il tuo cordoglio
spingendo a forza oggetti nelle tasche;
in una danza pigra, | rimetti insieme i pezzi
per poter dirti finalmente intero.

Invece non è vero: | chiedilo all’involucro
che porta a spasso il tuo pensiero fondo
in voci dissonanti, | dentro giornate terse
come cristallo dietro la vetrina.

Copyright 2024 Mario Badino
The Wrapper

Though it’s not true: | ask the wrapper 
that walks your deepest thoughts 
in dissonant voices, | on clear days
like glassware in a shop window.

Invent answers, | if this suits you:
tell yourself that it’s only for a moment; 
dip your knife | in the most gaping wound,
even though no more blood will come.

Investigate other lives, | look for analogies
pretend that living is possible
unsatisfied, deprived, | an apple core
there, where all your harvest was.

Invent mitigations: | console your condolences
forcing everything into your pockets;
in a lazy dance, | put the pieces back together
to finally say you are whole.

Though it’s not true: | ask the wrapper
that walks your deepest thoughts
in dissonant voices, | on clear days
like glass in a shop window.

Translation by Mike Maggio and Mario Badino
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio and Mario Badino
Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mario Badino – E Lo Sterrato Espone I Sassi Al Sole / And The Dirt Road Exposes the Stones to the Sun

E Lo Sterrato Espone I Sassi Al Sole

A mano a mano che fa primavera
e il sole scalda meglio,
ci si domanda il motivo del freddo
che ci ha tenuti stretti nella morsa;
del freddo tra le spalle,
che scende in ogni caso nella schiena.

Vien voglia di partire, in primavera,
di percorrere strade,
e lo sterrato espone i sassi al sole
più consapevolmente.

Fossi capace di donarti questo.

Copyright 2024 Mario Badino
And The Dirt Road Exposes the Stones to the Sun

As spring arrives
and the sun grows warmer,
one questions the reason for the cold
that held us tight in its grip;
the cold between the shoulders
which will always wander down the back.

It makes you want to leave, in spring,
to travel along,
and the dirt road exposes the stones to the sun
as it knows what it is doing.

If only I were capable of giving you this.

Translation by Mike Maggio
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio
Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mario Badino – Pandora

Pandora

Dice che fu Pandora,
messa alla prova dal gran re d’Olimpo,
a procurare il danno:

fu scoperchiato il dono, regalato
al fine non espresso
di fare uscire fuori tutti i mali.

Dice, però è menzogna:
già prima di quel vaso erano in terra
le seccature, i guai

e l’insoddisfazione di se stessi,
l’invidia e l’omicidio,
la sete di potere dei cretini;

già prima erano svelte
a farsi vecchie le passioni,
finanche i grandi amori.

Non fu Pandora bella col suo vaso
a procurare il danno,
Pandora incuriosita dal divieto:

a lei fu dato il ruolo
di vittima espiatrice per celare
gli errori progettuali

scappati nei disegni al re d’Olimpo.
O forse fatti apposta,
perché gli dei invidiano i mortali.

Copyright 2024 Mario Badino
Pandora

They say it was Pandora,
tested by the great king of Olympus,
who did the damage:

the gift was revealed and given away
for an unspoken purpose
to release all of the evil.

So they say, but it's a lie:
even before that box, they were already here, on earth
the troubles, the woes

the dissatisfaction with oneself,
envy and murder,
the idiotic thirst for power;

Even before, passions
were quick to grow old,
not sparing the greatest of loves.

Beautiful Pandora and her box
did not do the damage:
the prohibition intrigued her:

she was handed the role
of a scapegoat to hide
the flaw in the plan,

in the schemes of the king of Olympus.
Or perhaps done on purpose,
because the gods are envious of mortals.

Translation by Mike Maggio
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio
Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mario Badino – È Stato Dimostrato \ It Has Been Proven

È Stato Dimostrato

È stato dimostrato che la guerra
non serve a far la pace:
se questo non ci piace, com’è giusto,
è giusto dissentire.
Al primo condottiero che s’affaccia
alla televisione,
dovremo dedicare una pernacchia;
faremo una pernacchia,
perché s’è dimostrato che la guerra
serve soltanto ai soldi
di chi non ha bisogno d’altri soldi,
ma uccide per i soldi
di cui non ha bisogno per campare.
È stato dimostrato
che non importa cosa fanno gli altri,
che cosa fanno agli altri;
fintanto che ciàbbiamo il tornaconto:
pagatevelo il conto,
per quanto siamo noi ad aver mangiato.
È stato dimostrato,
tra i monti di quel posto fuori mano,
che cosa ci interessa.

Copyright 2024 Mario Badino
It Has Been Proven

It has been proven that war
does not serve peace: 
if we don't like it, as we shouldn’t,
it's correct to disagree.
To the first leader who appears
on TV, 
we must offer a jeer; 
we'll jeer
because it’s been proven that war
is a way to make money
for those who don't need more money,
yet they kill for money
which they don’t need to get by.
It has been proven
that it doesn't matter what others do,
or what they do to others;
as long as we get the kickback:
go pay the bill,
though we ate the meal.

It has been proven,
among the mountains of that out-of-the-way place,
exactly where our interests lie.

Translation by Mike Maggio
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio
Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Mario Badino – Non Fosse / If It Weren’t

Non Fosse

Non fosse per la guerra,
sarebbe bello con il freddo fuori
restare insieme a casa, con il film acceso
che tenta di raggiungere il divano
apparecchiato con i nostri corpi.
	
Non fosse per il freddo in casa,
sarebbe delizioso averti tra le braccia,
senza l’ingombro goffo dei vestiti,
né maglie né magliette:
sarebbe solo pelle contro pelle.

Non fosse per i lutti, il freddo,
per i princìpi sbandierati a scherno,
la propaganda che non dà speranza
se non nella disfatta del nemico,
magari spereremmo.

Questo Natale abbiamo questo gioco
di fare strage del nemico;
anche il nemico fa lo stesso gioco,
e il mondo che ci osserva tifa
ora per l’una, ora per l’altra parte,

indifferente ai morti,
indifferente ai vivi.

Copyright 2024 Mario Badino
If It Weren’t

If it weren’t for the war,
it would be nice with the cold outside
staying at home, together, while a film 
tries to set the sofa
for our bodies.

If it weren’t for the cold inside
it would be delightful to have you in my arms,
without the awkward encumbrance of clothes,
neither jerseys nor t-shirts:
it would be only skin against skin.

If it weren’t for the mourning, the chill,
for principles mocked and flaunted,
the propaganda that offers no hope
but in the defeat of the enemy,
maybe we could dream.

This Christmas, we play this game
of massacring the enemy:
the enemy, too, plays the same game, 
and the world watching us cheers
now for one, now for the other,

indifferent to death, 
indifferent to life.

Translation by Mike Maggio
Copyright 2024 Mike Maggio
Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Meet Mario Badino/ Vi Presento Mario Badino

Mario Badino

Mario Badino è nato a Torino nel 1975, è cresciuto tra le Alpi e si è trasferito in Puglia, nell’Italia del Sud, dove vive con Silvia e i loro figli, Emma e Riccardo. Insegna italiano nella scuola media ed è autore di tre libri di poesie (“Cianfrusaglia”, “Barricate” e “Santificare le feste”). È membro del collettivo poetico SlammalS, che promuove la poesia orale in Puglia. Moltissimo tempo fa ha iniziato a scrivere poesie e da allora non ha più smesso. I primi testi dei quali non si vergogna risalgono al 2000, e sono stati scritti per l’installazione artistica “Stanze per un improbabile paesaggio”, realizzata insieme al fotografo Paolo Rey. Potete leggere altro su di lui nel suo blog cianfrusaglia.wordpress.com

Mario Badino was born in Turin in 1975, grew up in the Alps and then moved to Apulia, in the South of Italy, where he lives with Silvia and their children, Emma and Riccardo. He teaches Italian in middle school and is the author of three books of poetry (“Cianfrusaglia”, “Barricate!” and “Santificare le feste”). He’s a member of the poetic collective SlammalS, that promotes spoken-word poetry in Apulia. One day many years ago he started writing poetry and has not stopped since. The first poems he’s not ashamed of date back to 2000, and were part of the art installation “Stanze per un improbabile paesaggio”, created together with the photographer Paolo Rey. You can read more about him on his web site cianfrusaglia.wordpress.com.

Share Button
Posted in Italian Poetry, Translation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Meet Mario Badino/ Vi Presento Mario Badino