The Poet's Struggle, by Brian Pilling

Poetry, prose, chapbook, 36 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The Poet’s Struggle is a chapbook chronicling the journey of a poet living in a broken world. Two common threads are present—a call and answer dialogue with my Sicilian born grandfather, the poet and roofer and myself a poet and architect, and a commentary (often satirical), often harsh (an echo).

Michaelangelo Crisafi chose the pen name, Germoglino Saggio, which translates “to germinate wisdom.” His first editor was Benito Mussolini (when Mussolini was a socialist hero). The pen name was invented to both create “a name uncommon in this world,” but also to protect his family back in Sicily—his poetry of protest so enraging the fascist dictator.

It was with reverence I returned to my grandfather’s birthplace for the ceremonies honoring him in the summer of 2018, where professors, family friends and dignitaries read from his works. It stirred deep emotions hearing his words in his native tongue. Later, walking the cobblestone streets, my grandfather walked a hundred years earlier, I touched the weathered walls of his family home, and I was inspired to return to my poetry. My poem, "San Mauro Castelverde", was largely written that day.

This small volume of work might be characterized by this line—poetry that searches for the perfect bellyache…. or perhaps this title—the poet says, let us make up stories, then assign motives later.

A retired architect and a poet based in Cape Cod, Brian Pilling has been published in The Main Street Rag, The Berkshire Review, Down in the Dirt, The Droplet Journal, and other literary journals. His writing is inspired by his grandfather Germoglino Saggio—an immigrant poet of note, whose work is housed at the University of Minnesota.