L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 Manganelli, one of the leaders of the avant-garde literary move- ment Gruppo 63, had a love affair with the young Alda. But she added: "Manganelli idealized women. He didn't dare touch them. If he had allowed himself to do such a gesture even without feeling, that act would have led him to marriage. Those were real men of honor!" Manganelli was a master of style to her. La Presenza di Orfeo, Alda's first book of poems, published by Schwarz in 1953, was inspired by him. "I depicted Manganelli as Orpheus, the legendary singer in ancient Greek mythology," she said. "When father Turoldo read La Presenza di Orfeo, he went 'wow!' That was the beginning of my addiction to poetry. But what distant memories!" She revealed that "Quasimodo gave me more in terms of affec- tion. However, both Quasimodo and Manganelli were immensely important. It is like I was artisti- cally married to both of them," she said. Alda lived poetry as a sheer necessity, even as "a gun pointed at my temple," as an aphorism of hers says. It was a sort of coer- cion from her daimon interiore or inner spirit. Her very first poems came out even earlier, in 1950 in the pres- tigious literary magazine Paragone, directed by Roberto Longhi and in the Antologia della Poesia Italiana Contemporanea 1909–1949, published by Giacinto Spagnoletti. In 1951, poet Eugenio Montale convinced Giovanni Scheiwiller to publish two of Merini's previously unpublished poems in the Poetesse del Novecento anthology. At 23, Alda married the "pre- stinaio," or bakery owner, Ettore Carniti on August 9, 1954. Together, they had four daugh- ters: Emanuela, Barbara, Flavia, and Simonetta. Those were the years of her early work, repre- sented by the collections of poems Paura di Dio, Nozze Romane, and Tu Sei Pietro. "Then I got lost," she said. "And the mental asylum arrived." It ate up her lonely body at a fast pace and a lot of time she needed to create. Her many books were her creatures, yet, she was also born to be a mother. "I came into this world for that reason," she said. "I have been 'called' to mother- hood." "American poet William Ross Wallace was right when he wrote The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is the Hand that Rules the World," she told me. And she didn't mean only biological motherhood. "You are a mother when you love your neighbor," she said. "Mother Theresa of Calcutta didn't give birth to any child, yet she was an extraordi- nary mom." A sense of melancholy, a sen- sual longing, and wildness bal- anced by quixotic wit and irony are evident in her poems and aphorisms. Her poetry is tragic, yet germinal — it evokes fertili- ty. "Everybody tells me: 'Please give me a poem, write me a poem!'" she said. "OK, but I am not a macchinetta (a machine)! And you journalists, why don't you give me a check instead of all this news coverage?" Today, Milan is commemorat- ing the anniversary of her Nov. 1, 2009 death with a series of liter- ary events and art exhibitions. "And the bridge over the Naviglio Grande canal will be named after her," says Marina Bignotti, president of Associazione Alda Merini. Her daughter Emanuela Carniti Merini, author of the biography Alda Merini, Mia Madre, will be there. Many friends will join, including the publisher Alberto Casiraghy and Alda's beloved official photogra- pher Giuliano Grittini. The city of Milan and the Milanese loved her. Yet she said: "Milan made me suffer a lot. It was nasty to me. But in the men- tal asylum, I never cried. I did it only in front of my landlord. People say they love me but I'm afraid they only pity me. Nobody greets me in the building where I live. They say I am a jinx." To her, Milan's Duomo was the most stunning cathedral in the world. And in "her" Duomo she was honored with a cantata for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra composed and performed by chansonnier Giovanni Nuti, who based the work on Alda's Il Poema della Croce. Merini dedi- cated that event to John Paul II. When pope Wojtyla died, she was profoundly saddened. "I miss his charismatic guidance," she said. "He loved my Magnificat. He knew the pain and loved women: he comforted them just like Jesus." The last time I saw Alda, she gave me a small old worn-out teddy bear. Before entering her apartment, I had to wait for her on the stairs. When she came in from the outside, she was radiant, her hair just done by the hair- dresser. She was already seriously ill, but Alda knew so well how to live in the present. Begin at zero, live eternally. LIFE PEOPLE MOVIES MUSIC BOOKS Alda Merini, her cigarette, her pearl: a portrait of the artist (Copyright: Giuliano Grittini) The Naviglio in Milan on which Alda's home looked (Copyright Giuliano Grittini) Continued from page 16

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