A poet among us: Professor Igor Costanzo

The editorial team is pleased to present you the book Re-Beat, written by the poet and Italian professor of our Institute, Igor Costanzo. This brief introduction to the author was written by poet Mark Lipman, editor-in-chief of Vagabond publishing house.

I first met Igor Costanzo 20 years ago, while I, a traveling poet, based out of Shakespeare and Company in Paris, happened upon Verona, Italy. This was to join with Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was presenting in Fluxus art event, Back to Beat, curated by Francesco Conz. I was staying with Francesco at the time, and Igor, a young and budding poet, still in university was Francesco’s assistant for the event, and even participated with his own poetry in this multi-media performance, also involving myself, the great Italian musician, Omar Pedrini, and likewise the famous San Francisco poet, Jack Hirschman.

Igor and I, both young poets at the time, made an instant friendship that has now lasted for two decades.

When meeting Igor for the first time, I was struck by his deep connection to the beat poets and how Ferlinghetti had already written the introduction of Igor’s first book, I Wish to be Light, with poems translated by Hirschman.

Since that time, Igor Costanzo has grow to be a leading voice for poetry in Italy, with his work known around the world and translated into several language, and not only that, but Igor has also become known as the “environmental poet,” a title that I became aware of when visiting Italy in 2017, to participate in the Monigart Festival a Moniga del Garda, which he organized.

In the last years, as all great poets do, Igor has started building those international bridges between poets, poetry and communities around the world, introducing some of the most important poets from every corner of the globe to the greater society as a whole, with his weekly poetry column, Traces of Poetry, which appears in the newspaper, Bresciaoggi.

It’s clear to me, both as a poet and publisher, that Igor’s voice is an important one for this new generation of poets that’s springing up from the footsteps of legends to carry on the work of being the voice of our collective human consciousness.

For these reasons, it’s with great pleasure that I, and the press Vagabond, present Igor Costanzo to you and welcome him into our publication family.

Mark Lipman,

editor-in-chief, Vagabond