For Franco Beltrametti: April 29, 2016

Patrick Marks welcomes the audience, and Steve Dickison opens by noting the presence of Stefan Hyner, visiting from Germany, who edited Beltrametti's From Almost Everywhere: Selected Poems 1965-1995, his collected English-language poetry, then speaking briefly to the life and works of Franco Beltrametti. He introduces Claudio Tettamanti's short film "Ultime cose (d'apres CHOSES qui voyagent)" (1995), made shortly before Beltrametti's unexpected death. Stefan Hyner follows the film, reading from Beltrametti's 1971 novel Nadamas, prefaced by Giulia Niccolai's remarks on that work; Duncan McNaughton recollects several visits with Beltrametti; Joanne Kyger reads the opening poem from Almost Everywhere, "For James Koller," then "Dharma Poetry Reading Report," "The Launching of the Skua," and "No Car"; Donald Guravich reads "well you know we could live in so many places...," "New Mexico Highway 25 Dream," "If somebody very mistakenly thinks...," "It is advisable to re-read carefully...," "Phone Call to Radar Etnar"; Joanne Kyger returns to the mic to read "for instance dear Jaime de Angulo...."; Judy Goldhaft reads "If dawns have fingers..." and "Peter in the Wolf"; Maggie Brown reads an untitled poem beginning with an epigraph from Jaime de Angulo ("Don Bartolomeo never scolded...") and "Plenty of light and ventilation is important..."; Jim Nisbet reads "Early Morning Plans" and "The first thing I see opening the eyes...," then is joined by David Schein from the audience to perform "poetry is not a part-time job"; Stefan Hyner returns to read the last section from Beltrametti's Nadamas.