Many Poems by Roberta Iannamico

Acclaimed Argentinian poet Roberta Iannamico’s Many Poems animates the particulars of an imaginary world that lives deeply inside this one, where objects acquire voices, seasons move simultaneously across rural landscapes, and a mother and daughter share a unique vision of the past and present. Considering the ways joy interacts with its afterlives and fantasy creates different shapes of grief—a particularly snowy day, the methods of lighting a cigarette, a gentle rain, a naked woman asleep in a field—Iannamico taps into poetry’s distinctive ability to magically transform daily scenes into purely ecstatic visions. Whether the world of her poems is wide awake or asleep (or sometimes both), she softly imbues a dreamlike quality into every line. Masterfully translated by Alexis Almeida, Many Poems is Iannamico's first full-length book to be published in English, and marks the long overdue introduction of a major Latin American poet to English-language readers. 

Reading these “many poems” feels like coming across a vibrant patch of wildflowers unexpectedly. I’m reminded of the fact that once collections of poems were called “florilegios” in Spanish—tenderly picked flowers, that is. I’m won over by their openness and seemingly effortless charm, uplifted by their spirit, appearing in another of Iannamico’s poems thus: “I love life / the moments of life / the everyday ones / even if you barely notice them / the magic ones / the sunny ones / the chatting  / the music / the weather….” Almeida’s versions re-perform the poems’ magic, and that too is something to love.  

—Mónica de la Torre

Roberta Iannamico lives in Villa Ventana, Argentina. She has published several books of poetry, including El zorro gris, El zorro blanco, Mamuskhas, El collar de fideos, Tendal, and several books for children. Her poems have been translated into English and Portuguese. She co-directs Maravilla Press, and for the past 18 years has worked actively on cultural programming for the Macedonio Fernandez Public Library in Villa Ventana.  

Alexis Almeida (translator) grew up in Chicago. She is the author of the chapbooks I Have Never Been Able to Sing (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018) and Things I Have Made a Fiction, which was recently the winner of the Oversound Chapbook Prize. Her first full-length book, Caetano, is forthcoming from The Elephants in 2025. She teaches at the Bard Microcollege at the Brooklyn Public Library and Pratt Institute, and edits 18 Owls Press.