- Ange
- Mlinko
- alchemizes
- art
- and
- life
- into
- a
- dazzling
- collection
- of
- poetry
- in
- VeniceIn
- Venice,
- Ange
- Mlinko
- dissolves
- the
- boundaries
- between
- the
- sublime
- and
- the
- ordinary,
- the
- mythic
- and
- the
- rational,
- the
- past
- and
- the
- present.
- She
- sees
- a
- Roman
- tablet,
- scratched
- with
- Greek
- script,
- in
- the
- waxen
- wings
- of
- a
- bouffant
- bee,
- and
- she
- thinks
- of
- the
- abyss
- between
- two
- airport
- terminals
- when
- considering
- Rodin’s
- Gates
- of
- Hell.
- From
- Naples,
- Italy,
- to
- its
- sister
- city
- on
- the
- Gulf
- of
- Mexico,
- or
- at
- home,
- in
- the
- glow
- of
- a
- computer
- screen
- (“I
- worry
- /
- that
- Zoom
- is
- ruled
- by
- djinn
- /
- that
- filter
- out
- the
- wavelength
- of
- love
- /
- and
- so
- I
- wear
- my
- evil
- eye
- jewelry,
- //
- as
- you
- advised,
- against
- being
- too
- /much
- in
- view
- .
- .
- .”),
- Mlinko
- probes
- the
- etymologies
- and
- eccentricities
- of
- all
- she
- encounters.
- As
- Dan
- Chiasson
- wrote
- in
- The
- New
- Yorker,
- “Her
- extraordinary
- wit,
- monitoring
- its
- own
- excesses,
- is
- her
- compass.”On
- her
- travels,
- Mlinko
- scrapes
- at
- the
- patina
- of
- the
- past
- and
- considers
- the
- line
- between
- destruction
- and
- preservation.
- Sparking
- with
- wit
- and
- intelligence,
- the
- poet’s
- own
- lines
- break
- down
- and
- remake
- language,
- myth,
- and
- time.
- Mlinko
- is
- a
- poet
- of
- art
- and
- of
- life,
- and
- Venice
- is
- a
- sumptuous
- exploration
- of
- poetry’s
- capacity
- to
- capture
- the
- miracles
- and
- ironies
- of
- our times.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
