I have two new poems in the beautiful new issue of Alaska Quarterly Review. The poetry in this issue was curated by Santa Cruz based poet Danusa Lameris, whose exceptional new book Blade by Blade is just out from Copper Canyon Press. The issue includes poems from so many poets and friends I admire, including Kwame Dawes, Jane Hirshfield, Leila Chatti, Kai Carlson-Wee, Ama Codjoe, Padraig O Tuama and others. You can read or order the whole issue here: https://www.aqreview.org/aqr-issues/p/aqr-vol-40-no3-4summerfall-2024
"Catania" in POETRY Magazine
I have a new poem out in the May 2024 issue of POETRY Magazine. Catania is the second largest city in Sicily, where my paternal grandparents hail from. You can read the poem on the Poetry Foundation’s website here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/162469/catania
In the Tempered Dark Anthology
I’m honored to have a poem, “I Ask My Sister’s Ghost to Play a Game of Cribbage”, originally published in Southern Indiana Review, included in Black Lawrence Press’ latest anthology: In the Tempered Dark: Contemporary Poets Transcending Elegy. Edited by Lisa Fay Coutley, the anthology includes work from some of my favorite poets including Ilya Kaminsky, Diane Suess, Phillip B. Williams and Victoria Chang.
Here is a description of the anthology from BLP’s website: “Historically poets have explored no two themes more than love and grief because they are opposite sides of the same emotional coin that we will all experience in unique and often unexplainable ways. While other anthologies validate the necessity of the elegy, none examine the relationship between the body in grief and the body of the poem a poet crafts to recreate an individual, visceral experience of grief. By pairing contemporary poems with micro-essays, wherein each poet considers briefly the connection between their included poem(s) and their corresponding grief, In the Tempered Dark initiates a dialogue designed to engage teachers, students, readers, and writers. This collection doesn’t instruct poets how to craft grief poems but illuminates the bond between bodies in grief and bodies of poems.
In the Tempered Dark brings together contemporary work and voices that demonstrate the range of grief which feels urgent to twenty-first century poets from diverse backgrounds, at different stages in their careers, confronting assorted losses through various styles and forms. Poems coupled with micro-essays offer intimate and inside insights appealing to novices and veterans of all genres. This book will allow readers to identify with poets and poems to grieve and to heal, and it will also consider the relationship between poet and poem. Such an examination of content and form will show how poets manipulate craft, giving voice to what can seem unsayable, transcending elegy.'“
"The Nest" Translated into Slovenian
I’m grateful to poet and translator Veronika Dintinjana for translating a poem of mine,“The Nest” into Slovenian for the Ljubliana based journal LUD Literatura. You can read the translation here: https://www.ludliteratura.si/branje/poezija/gnezdo/
"The Nest" included in Orion Magazine's SPARK BIRDS Anthology
One of my poems, “The Nest”, is included in Orion Magazine’s latest anthology, SPARK BIRDS. In birding, a “spark bird” is the bird that sparks someone’s interest in birds, and ignites a lifelong passion in all things avian. Orion describes the anthology in the following way: “This collection gathers the best stories, essays, and poems about birds from forty years of Orion. In it you’ll find owls, cranes, thrushes, finches, penguins, petrels, and buzzards—and the people who love them, including Brian Doyle, John Freeman, Elizabeth Kolbert, J. Drew Lanham, Mary Oliver, Emily Raboteau, Sandra Steingraber, and Terry Tempest Williams. Co-edited and introduced by Jonathan Franzen.” You can order the anthology here, a great gift for the bird lovers in your life!
"The Rungs" Featured in On Being's Poetry Unbound
One of my poems, “The Rungs”, originally published in Alaska Quarterly Review and included in WEST PORTAL, was recently featured in On Being’s podcast Poetry Unbound. Poetry Unbound is one of my favorite podcasts, and host Pádraig Ó Tuama offers such a thoughtful and incisive commentary on the poem, as well as on masculinity and the restorative group process the poem explores. You can listen to the episode here, as well as all of the beautiful episodes from season 7 and previous seasons.
Review of West Portal in Southern Indiana Review
I am grateful to poet and scholar Tryphena Yeboah for her thoughtful review of West Portal in Southern Indiana Review’s Meter Reader series. Of the book, Yeboah says, “These are poems that leave the reader charged with hope and open to the delightful pleasures of living, even in the face of loss. A speaker’s imagination is what bridges the distance between the self and a ghost, and the conversations that take place are not an outburst, not a loud declaration but a reach into the darkness to sing. It is an invitation to a landscape that, while it speaks of dying and death, its words are marked in living and life, brimming with the kind of curiosity that shakes off human indifference and provokes our sensibilities.” You can read the rest of the review here: https://www.usi.edu/sir/meter-reader/benjamin-gucciardi-review
New Poem in Washington Square Review
My poem, “I Ask My Sister’s Ghost How Dying Is” is included in the latest Washington Square Review, an award-winning journal of new fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, translations, and interviews, published biannually by the students and faculty of the NYU Graduate Creative Writing Program. Read the poem here alongside work from many dear friends and poets I admire.
If These Covers Could Talk Interview
I recently had the chance to take part in Palette Poetry’s If These Covers Could Talk series, interviewing my long time friend the visual artist and sign painter Dom Villeda, who designed the cover for West Portal. About the series, Palette Poetry says, “In If These Covers Could Talk, poets interview the visual artists whose works grace their book covers. The result is an engaging discussion of process, vision, and projects. This series is a celebration of collaboration—here, we champion the fruitful conversations taking place both on and behind the cover.” Check out the interview to learn more about Dom’s work, his vision for the cover and an insight into the process of the design. Below are some images of his work.
Three Poems in Sixth Finch
I have three poems in the latest issue of Sixth Finch, check them out here: https://sixthfinch.com/gucciardi1.html. Sixth Finch always publishes strange, beautiful poems alongside visual art from contemporary artists.
Split the Lark: Shara Lessley Reviews West Portal in West Branch
Poet, editor and critic Shara Lessley included this incredibly thoughtful and beautifully written review of West Portal in her ongoing column ‘Split the Lark’, in which Lessley discusses recent poetry collections. ‘One Vast Shadow: The Poetry of (Self)Perspective’ also discusses Jacques Rancourt’s second book, Brocken Spectre, and Sandra Lim’s third book, The Curious Thing, both of which are astonishing books. Read more about all three of these books here: https://westbranch.blogs.bucknell.edu/one-vast-shadow-the-poetry-of-selfperspective/09/2022/
West Portal Named a Finalist for the Northern California Book Award
I’m so honored to share that West Portal has been named a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in poetry alongside books from Derrick Austin, Ari Banias, Amanda Moore, Erin Rodoni and Mai Der Vang. Since 1981, the Northern California Book Reviewers, a volunteer group of book reviewers and book review editors, have honored the work of Northern California authors. The awards recognize the best published works of 2021 by Northern California authors and California translators state-wide. Learn more about the awards and the nominated books in different categories here: https://poetryflash.org/programs/?p=ncba
New Work in 32 Poems
I have two poems in the Summer 2022 issue of 32 Poems, one of my favorite journals. These are two poems in conversation with each other, and lately, I’ve been working on groups/pairs of poems that speak to each other or even disagree with one another. The whole issue is full of stunning work, check it out here: https://32poems.com/2022/08/18/32-poems-39-released/
West Portal Named a Finalist for the 2021 Julie Suk Award
West Portal has been named a finalist for the 2021 Julie Suk Award. Presented by Jacar Press, the award recognizes ‘the best book published by a literary press’ in a given year. It’s such an honor to be in the company of so many books and poets I admire. Learn more about the award and the other finalists here: http://jacarpress.com/suk-award/
'Rose' published in The American Poetry Review
My poem ‘Rose’ was recently published in the beautiful March/April issue of The American Poetry Review. You can read the poem below, or purchase the issue, which includes stunning poems from Dorianne Laux, Kazim Ali, Sharon Olds and so many other amazing poets, through APR’s site linked above.
Reading with Gabrielle Calvocoressi at the University of Utah's Guest Writers Series
On February 17th, I have the honor of reading with the brilliant poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi as part of the University of Utah Creative Writing Program’s Guest Writers Series. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the event has been moved online. Check out more of Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s work here.
Review of WEST PORTAL in Blackbird
The latest issue of the literary journal Blackbird is out, and includes a very thoughtful review of West Portal by editor Danielle Kotrla. Here is an excerpt, “The poems in West Portal go beyond mere cataloguing to reach toward something more active, a process akin to peeling away the outermost layer of the world to see its inner workings. This action shares its significance with what is described by the ghost of the speaker’s sister when she asks, “Do you remember those picture books / where the illustrator removes the outer wall // of a jumbo jet to show children where luggage goes.” This leaning down and peering in is what reveals just how intricate and complex the act of paying attention, and therefore, living, really is.” The whole review can be read here, and all the work in the issue is wonderful and well worth reading.
New Poems in Portland Review and National Poetry Review
As the year winds down, I am very grateful to the editors of Portland Review and The National Poetry Review for publishing a few new poems.
Read ‘Plume’ and ‘Silence is the Blower of the Glass’ at Portland Review.
And ‘Twenty Days’ at The National Poetry Review.
Debut Poets in COVID - Reading and Panel at Litquake
I’ll be reading at Yerba Buena Gardens in downtown San Francisco alongside a wonderful group of Bay Area poets - Alan Chazaro, Claire Mueschke, Amanda Moore, Jenny Qi and Dena Rod - who also put out their debut books of poetry during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of this year’s Litquake festival. Check out their wonderful books and join us if you can!
Brooklyn Reading and Book Celebration at Art Cafe
On Friday September 10th, I’ll be reading fro West Portal at Art Cafe in Brooklyn alongside wonderful writers and friends Vanessa Chan, Brionne Janae and Cintia Santana. Please join if you are in the area!
