Fragment by Pietro Pàncamo

At times in the dark

the watermark of stars

echoes

my pensive anger:

love or uncertainty, uncertainty and love.

(Translated from Italian by Pietro Pàncamo)

***

Pietro Pancamo, born in 1972, is an Italian editor by profession.

After having been the managing editor of an international webzine called «Niederngasse Italian», he was on the editorial staff of «Viadellebelledonne», one of the most-read Italian literary blogs. In addition he was a literary columnist for «EffettoTre», an independent monthly especially intended for the Sicilian military and administrative staff of the Carabineer Service.

He was both director and host of two transmissions devoted to literature and, chiefly, to poetry; these programmes, «The Big World of Poetry and Fiction» and «Good mo(u)rning, Italy!», were respectively broadcast for some years by an Italian-speaking web radio station based in Madrid and the web portal «Beyond Thirty-Nine», founded in Hong Kong by the Marsilio Editori novelist Angelo Paratico.

Currently Pancamo not only contributes podcasts to “Maratea Web Radio”, whose headquarters are in Southern Italy, but is also in charge of the poetry section of «Il Cofanetto Magico», an online monthly whose lady editor Maria Cristina Giongo freelances with several daily newspapers in Italy, such as «Quotidiano Nazionale» and «Avvenire».

As well as having been published abroad, for instance by «Filling Station» (a Canadian four-monthly magazine) and «Gradiva» (a periodical edited twice a year in New York by the highly respected poet Luigi Fontanella), Pancamo’s works have appeared in, among others, the Turin newspaper «La Stampa», «IF. Insolito & Fantastico» (one of the most influential Italian magazines of Fantasy and Science Fiction) and in important websites including «Poeti e poetastri» (belonging to “Perroni&Morli Studio”, a literary agency which often collaborates with the publishing house Bompiani), «Alma Poesia», «Carmilla», «Cronache Letterarie», «FantasyMagazine», «Fare Voci», «Fucine Mute», «HookMagazine», «Il cucchiaio nell’orecchio», «Il Paradiso degli Orchi», «Il Ridotto», «La poesia e lo spirito», «Nazione Indiana», «Poetarum Silva», «Scriptamanent», «Suite Italiana» and «Vibrisse». His work has been put online also by the poetry blog of the TV channel “Rai News” and the electronic versions of four renowned journals: «Corriere Fiorentino» («Corriere della Sera»’s Florence edition), «Il Fatto Quotidiano», «La Repubblica» and «L’Indice dei libri del mese» (a monthly reviewing the latest books).

Pancamo, whose collection of verse «Manto di vita» (LietoColle) has been favourably reviewed by significant magazines such as «Poesia» (Crocetti Editore) and «Atelier», is among the poets selected for «Poetando. L’uomo della notte», an anthology edited by the leading journalist Maurizio Costanzo and printed in 2009 by Aliberti editore. In 2012 the Italian Swiss national radio devoted to him an episode of the transmission «Poemondo».