The Last Will and Testament of Palmira Sei

In these poems, the author explores the meaning, for the poem and for the poet, of a sense of place. She explores the poem itself as a geography, a place in its own right, allowing herself to be present for, joining her voice with, the voices that might want to inhabit that place.

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If you find me
the poet unknown

If I appear
unapproachable
as one in a dream often will
please don’t worry

Come closer
I’ve been waiting for you
here all along

In a world devoted increasingly to blather, the poetry of Lenice Cicchini is a reminder of the relationship between written words and the silences within us. Words can carry a crucial weight, and it is this careful value these poems speak to and speak for. Her topics vary, her tone tends to the lyrical, often she writes under the sign of the poets and geography of her home state of California, but consistently there is that pure tug of language here, the aspiration to express what seems, at first glance, inexpressible.

—Baron Wormser