Grace Cavalieri

Discusses Her New Book, Fables from Italy and Beyond

Grace Cavalieri on Signature Poem

I had a delightful discussion with Maryland’s 10th Poet Laureate this week. Fables from Italy and Beyond is a newly released book of original poems co-written by Grace Cavalieri and Geoffrey Himes. It is a tour de force of kings, queens, princesses, soothsayers, fools and rogues. The folk wisdom found throughout touches upon fairness, charity and revenge. All in a magical world where time travel and people turning into frogs are commonplace events. Fables from Italy and Beyond is a world that Grace happily refers to as “a river of mischief.”

So jump into this river of a book and enjoy Grace’s reading of the poem Prognostication from the second section of Fables from Italy and Beyond. It appears around the nine minute mark of the video.

I hope you enjoy these brief “Signature Poem” segments. Zoom has given us the ability to create quick live snapshots of a poet’s work without a lot of fuss. All it takes is a room, a webcam and a couple of minutes.

A Poem for the Disappeared

We live in a different country now. It’s a country where you can be jailed or shipped off to a foreign prison without notice. And don’t believe you have to be an immigrant or member of an ethnic group to be targeted. The contempt our president has for due process and the rule of law can fall upon anyone who does not sufficiently dance to his tune. This week I wrote and recorded The Disappearing Box to give this new world of totalitarianism a context.

History is pretty clear. Once a people have surrendered any part of their liberty to a tyrant, no one is safe.

Coming Up

Sunday, April 27, 5:30 pm Reston Readings Michele Evans, Gregory Luce, and Naomi Thiers read, open mic to follow 1623 Washington Plaza North Reston, Virginia 20190

Sunday, April 27, 2025, Kensington Day of the Book.

Monday, May 5, 2025, Café Muse will feature poets Suzanne Suzanne Frischkorn and Ae Hee Lee. Register to get the Zoom link. Register for the Zoom list early since Zoom links cannot be distributed at the real time event.

Saturday, May 17, 2025, Gaithersburg Book Festival.

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Have a reading or event coming up? Let me know and I’ll pass it along. And as always, feel free to email me with questions or comments at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject “Coming Up” Stay creative!

If you’d like me to list an upcoming poetry event in Everyday Poet, please let me know by emailing me at henrycrawfordpoetry@gmail.com. Use the subject: “Coming Up”.