Maria Luisa Spaziani (b. 1924) is from Turin and has had a long and distinguished literary career. As well as two volumes of fiction and various critical studies of French literature and theater, she has published some eighteen volumes of poetry, including Le acque del sabato (1954), Il gong (1962), Utilità della memoria (1966), L'occhio del cyclone (1970), Transito con catene (1977), Geometria del disordine (1981), La stella del libero arbitrio (1986), I fasti dell'ortica (1996), La traversata dell'oasi (2002), and La luna è già alta (2006). "La gloria," the poem translated here, is from La stella del libero arbitrio.
in the wind they sowed their long phrases– like scarves they'd wave in the wind – the wind ripped many scarves by chanceand carried them away in frayed cloud shapes –
the poet always scatters her word…
