Episode 15: Fillipo Capobianco

[00:00:10] Speaker A: Welcome to through the Mill, the podcast on all things poetry slam. My name is Mark Elevelt. I'm the editor of the Spoken Word Revolution series, and I am here always and ever with Mark Smith, the Chicago icon and the founder of the poetry slam, the Icon. [00:00:27] Speaker B: He usually goes on and on with. [00:00:29] Speaker C: A bunch of stuff, but he's there, says icon. [00:00:32] Speaker A: Now there's an actual magazine that's called you the Chicago Icon. [00:00:36] Speaker C: Really? [00:00:36] Speaker A: Yeah, the Poets. [00:00:37] Speaker C: It's bad magazine. [00:00:39] Speaker A: No, no, it's been a while. It's been a long while since we've. [00:00:42] Speaker C: Done this, I think. Yeah. And we've got a guest with us tonight. [00:00:47] Speaker A: We do. Would you like to introduce our Italian. Our second Italian poet on our. [00:00:53] Speaker C: Filippo. Filippo, how do you say your last name? [00:00:56] Speaker D: Capo. Bianco. [00:00:58] Speaker B: Capabiano. [00:00:59] Speaker C: Capabiano. [00:01:00] Speaker D: You have very few things as Italian as Capabiano. [00:01:05] Speaker C: Sounds like. It could be like a. A coffee drink or something. [00:01:10] Speaker A: You're insulting our guest from the beginning. What are you doing here? [00:01:13] Speaker C: Sorry. [00:01:14] Speaker D: No, but I. I like the idea that capo Bianco sounds like cappuccino. So can I have a cappuccino or a Capo Bianco? [00:01:20] Speaker A: It. [00:01:20] Speaker D: It sounds great. So thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. [00:01:23] Speaker A: No, thanks for being here. [00:01:25] Speaker C: He's. He's here from. From Italy, of course, but he's here for some special reasons that we'll get to. Let's. Let's ask him our kind of standard question. How did he get introduced to slam, which we talked about, because our engineer was. Our engineer. [00:01:41] Speaker A: Joe was late, everybody. [00:01:43] Speaker C: We've already heard this, but we got. [00:01:45] Speaker A: We're garnering his wages as we speak. [00:01:48] Speaker D: So. [00:01:48] Speaker A: So. Yeah, but just to be fair. [00:01:50] Speaker C: Yeah, go on. [00:01:51] Speaker A: Because you're coming from. You're coming. You've been here 20 days, and you're coming from Italy, then to Washington, to New York and now Chicago. [00:02:01] Speaker D: Yes. [00:02:01] Speaker A: And so then Mark's. Great question, because you already got this great stories going, but great question. How were you introduced to poetry slam in Italy? [00:02:10] Speaker D: I'll pretend I've never told this story before. And I'm going to the bathroom. [00:02:15] Speaker C: I've already heard it. No, no. Okay, go on, go on. Sorry, Filippo. [00:02:19] Speaker D: I was introduced to poetry slam thanks to YouTube. So when I was. It was back in 2019, so I was 23, 24, something like that. And I was studying physics at the university. I was very passionate about theater. Almost never read poetry in my life. So that's. That's. [00:02:40] Speaker C: Were you passionate about physics? Because that Kind of astounded me that you. You've graduated with a degree in physics. [00:02:46] Speaker D: I was very passionate about physics. [00:02:48] Speaker C: Are you a mathematician too? [00:02:50] Speaker D: Yeah, my, my degree was going to the direction of mathematical physics. I wanted to become a. I wanted to study theoretical physics. But I was always a theater kid and I had great discussions with my parents about getting into the poetry. [00:03:06] Speaker A: So you're a rocket scientist who went into the poetry slam world? [00:03:08] Speaker D: Yes. [00:03:08] Speaker C: But you were, you as a kid, you were, you were into theater, huh? [00:03:12] Speaker D: Yes. [00:03:13] Speaker C: Was there a big struggle between. With the parents, like theater, theater, physics? [00:03:22] Speaker D: No. The idea was this. My father told me when we got to the point when I had to decide what to do after high school, he told me that the only way was university, but not only the way was university. You had just four directions that were economics, medicine, law or engineering. So philosophy was not university, you know, or literature was not actually a good choice. And we had a struggle about that because, you know, theater is quite far from this. For he told four pillars. He told. He called them the four pillars, you know, like four columns of society. But then I was also very passionate about mathematics. I wanted to do theater. You know, I needed the economic support of my family order for to do something. So at the end, I decided physics was something that I could do for three years during my. You call it bachelor or undergrad? [00:04:20] Speaker C: Yeah, undergrad. [00:04:21] Speaker D: Undergrad, yes. And he couldn't say anything because it was not one of these four, but it was physics. So you couldn't say, no, physics is not, it's, it's not good. So I did physics and it was a really good experience, a good trip. Then Covid happened, so I couldn't. I finished my undergrad and I started my master. Because you couldn't do theater. But as soon as Covid finished was over, then I had a possibility to start doing theater again. And I stopped my master degree for, let's say, six months. And I dedicated more to poetry, slam and theater. And then everything happened. [00:05:01] Speaker C: You were interested in the theater, and then I interrupted you and, and you went on YouTube. [00:05:08] Speaker D: Yes, I, I. [00:05:10] Speaker C: And it was. You told us before was English. It wasn't. [00:05:13] Speaker D: No, it wasn't Italian. It was actually, I remember the video. It was Andrew Baker. His name is Andrew, I think. Yes. He is a British poet who, a couple of years ago, and he had. And he gave this very famous TED Talk, which became viral on YouTube. And he was a mathematician. [00:05:31] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, he was at the Green Mill. [00:05:33] Speaker D: Yeah, he was. [00:05:34] Speaker C: Brilliant guy. Brilliant guy. And it was. Now I Can see the connection. [00:05:39] Speaker D: Yeah, I've never met him actually hit. [00:05:41] Speaker C: The chords in your life with the mathematics. Because his was. His work was fun, but it was very scientific. [00:05:50] Speaker D: The first poem I've ever heard from him was a poem about prime numbers, right? 59, that falls in love with 61. And for me it was a blast, you know, and then. So I realized that this was something that I could interested in. And for me, poetry slam at the beginning was this. They gave me the possibility to go on a stage if I wrote something. And writing was never my thing, but I wanted to try the experience of being on stage. So I said, okay, let's try to write something. And then I realized that writing was something that I could do with much pleasure in particular following this poetry wrote, which for me was following musicality before concept, playing with words, having fun with the possible connections between sounds. [00:06:40] Speaker A: But with all these urges, you had to have a. Have an introduction, a place to go. So you're in. [00:06:46] Speaker C: And where was that first place? Where was that first place? [00:06:49] Speaker D: Okay, so I. [00:06:50] Speaker C: What show, what city and what show? [00:06:52] Speaker D: I. I was born and raised in Pavia, close to Milan. It's a small town, it's say 60,000 people with a university, very famous university, with 30,000 students. So you have like this kind of population. And there is a bar which is called the Modernista. And I'm very proud to say this because it's a very small bar in a very small town. And the Modernista was having a poetry slime tournament for years. Actually, at that point it was one of the. Like, it was the eighth year of the Modernista tournament. The Modernista was led by Sam Kabouter, which is a very close friend of mine, and Andrea Fabiani, which is another. Who is another friend, and now is the president of the Lips Lega Italiana Poetry Slam. So the Italian Poetry Slam League. And I realized that it was like 100 meters from my home, so I decided to give it a try. I sent some things that I wrote for the occasion and they said, okay, come. There were my friends there. It was an incredible night. And I tried. I did this one poem which is not the one that I'm going to perform today, but it's the story of a cosmologist, yes, a scientist who falls in love with a flat earther. So someone who believes that earth is flat. And that I took inspiration from Andrew Baker. And that poem is the one probably who got me all the way till here, I think, because I did it for a long time and it would. [00:08:38] Speaker A: Stay at the Modernist. Modernist. [00:08:41] Speaker D: Modernist, yes, the modernist. [00:08:42] Speaker A: So what, what was that community like? [00:08:45] Speaker C: Yeah, what was, what was bar like? Was it a dingy bar? Was it a bar or bar restaurant? [00:08:50] Speaker D: It was a bar. I, I went many times before to the Modernista just to drink a lot of beer. And then I realized that on, on Thursday night became a place where poetry happened. And you have, like, there is no stage, you have just a corner, you have a mic, and you have people who actually are very close to you. Yes, very close. And it's still happening. So after now I'm one of the people who organizes the Poches Daimi Modernista. And it's. [00:09:22] Speaker A: So that's your home base even now? Today? [00:09:24] Speaker D: Yes, it became one of my places also. You have a lot of university students because, and you have as. So in, in Pavia, we know that university students are those kind of people who come and go because, you know, you have to, you study and then you go. So you have, you have a change of the public. And, and yes, and it's, I, I, I feel like it's the perfect place to have a poetry slam. Then I had poetry slams in theaters and in parks and in big venues. But the, the core of poetry slam is a dingy bar where you have people very close to you. [00:10:02] Speaker C: That's good to hear. Yes, Mark likes to hear that. [00:10:06] Speaker A: Well, we were talking about Slime Corner. At the green root of it is. [00:10:09] Speaker C: That closeness, intimacy without the formality. Yeah, good, keep going. I love it. [00:10:16] Speaker A: So from that one spot, then, take us for a tour around Milan. Did you start going to several of them in different locations? So was there an organization already that was like connecting the different. [00:10:29] Speaker D: Yes. So the first thing that happened after that poetry slam, which was in the, I would say December 2019, I had my exam sessions, so I had to give exams for January and February, and I couldn't do poetry slams, but I said, March, March 2020, I'll do a thousand poetry slams. And then Covid happened. So I couldn't do poetry slams for, for a year and a half and, but I studied, I tried to find as much material as I could on the Internet, about which Islam in Italy and all over the world. [00:11:01] Speaker A: Did you come across Mark Smith's name? [00:11:03] Speaker D: Yes, that's the time I heard about the Chicago icon. So, so I, yes, I learned what I could learn on the Internet. Then I started going to Milan and I realized that there was a huge community in Italy. So there is this thing called Lips Lega Italiana Poetry Slam, which was born in 2013. So Italy had poetry slam since 2001. Okay. And in 2013, the people who were doing poetry slam said, okay, let's try to be. To build an organization that will just be like, how do you say? The hat. The umbrella. Perfect of all these communities that are actually acting locally in their territories. So the core of poetry is them. Is you have a community, you have a place, a city, and nobody can do what you do if you are someone who knows the city, who knows the places, who knows the schools, and you have the connection. But we needed someone who organized the national poetry slam events and also who kind of gave the possibility of all these. For all these communities to connect to each other, to build a network. So I realized that I had my own community close to Milan and Pavia. But then I started touring and going around and you had this possibility of, okay, there is a poetry's dime in Genova. Fine. You can participate. Just send some texts. Okay. So you know how to write. Come also, you don't know how to write, but you come anyway. That's great. [00:12:43] Speaker C: And. And had. [00:12:45] Speaker A: Had. Mark, have you. Had you gone there at that time? [00:12:48] Speaker C: I've been. Yeah, I was way back when Lelo Voucher. [00:12:51] Speaker D: Yes, Lelo Voce was. [00:12:53] Speaker C: Started it. And the first. [00:12:55] Speaker A: And where. Where and when was that? [00:12:56] Speaker C: Oh, God, you say 2001. I was thinking it's back way longer than that. The first I went to was Roma Poesia. [00:13:04] Speaker D: Yeah, Roma Poesia. [00:13:05] Speaker C: Yeah. It was a big. It was a traditional festival of poetry that Lelo had the first international attempt at having an international slam competition. And he had the big screen where he put the translations up. And that was. That was the. The inspired Pilot Lahat in France to start his World Cup. Okay. [00:13:30] Speaker A: I Remember pilot from 1999 here in Chicago. Now is Milan. Is that the. Your. The roses? [00:13:39] Speaker C: No, that's. That was Bone Germany. [00:13:40] Speaker A: I always get that wrong. [00:13:42] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:13:42] Speaker C: And then Lalo and I went to Mount Mount Falcone for national festival there and a couple other times. And then I met Domi and Mon Mona. [00:13:53] Speaker D: See. [00:13:54] Speaker A: So when you're at these things, Mark. [00:13:56] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:13:57] Speaker A: Are you teaching organization as well as perform? Are they. Are the. Is it casual conversation? [00:14:02] Speaker C: Interview me and ask about how the beginning, you know. So there was an interview in Lalo. I remember a big. They had a big argument about all the organizers. [00:14:14] Speaker A: And you were there for that. [00:14:15] Speaker C: I was there for that. And it just so happens that happens everywhere. You get. This is such an anarchist. Anarchistic. Is that the right word? [00:14:23] Speaker A: And it is now. [00:14:25] Speaker C: Yeah, it's it's so wide open that there's a struggle for power until people settle down. And that happened in France. It happened many times in the States. [00:14:36] Speaker A: You know, it's just remarkable to me that we're sitting here with our new Italian poet friend. [00:14:41] Speaker C: 24 years old. [00:14:43] Speaker A: 24 years old and. [00:14:44] Speaker D: But now. Now I'm. Now I'm 26. [00:14:46] Speaker A: 26. Physicist. [00:14:47] Speaker C: Wasn't even born. [00:14:49] Speaker A: Yeah, but there is a cause effect from your travels all the way back then, even. Is that fair to say? Like, it is kind of sitting here in a way because of Mark's work? Definitely, to some extent. [00:14:59] Speaker C: No, he said, I. I remember now. Would you say that, you know Lelo and Sergio? I. I don't know if Sergio was. Yes, Sergio was there too. You know, we're sitting talking about it because they're asking questions like, okay, where, you know, what's the scoop on all this stuff? Because the same stuff happens. The traditional poetry world fights against it, and they're fighting back because it becomes so popular. There's a little inside political fighting about people because some greedy people want to use it for themselves and not be it's right. [00:15:38] Speaker D: Yes. [00:15:38] Speaker A: Is that even your experience now? [00:15:40] Speaker D: It is, it is. And it's still going on. I mean, but I think it's very human. No, you have something new, something that works, and you have many people who are interested in it for different reasons. So you get to fight. [00:15:52] Speaker A: And you're getting inspired to. You said you would text to different countries in different poetry slams. They would say, you know, bring your writing and come perform. And even if it was bad writing, just come. Is it? [00:16:04] Speaker D: Yes. I mean, because you have many poetry slams. So like last year, Italy was the third country in Europe for the number of poetry slams organized. Oh, wow. And we had roughly 500 poetry slams in one year. And Italy is a small country. [00:16:24] Speaker A: Why is Marc not driving a fancier car then? [00:16:27] Speaker C: He did something wrong. [00:16:31] Speaker D: So you have many events and not so many people who want to participate. So you have an open possibility of going and trying your stuff, your material around. And as I was saying, the very important thing is that they told you, okay, there is no money involved. We will not pay you, but you can come and maybe we can pay you for the train. Yes. Then you will sleep on my couch. And then the payment from the bar we will perform in will be dinner and maybe two beers. Two beers? Really? And I was 23, 24 years old, and that was everything I needed at the time because I could also do private lessons in physics and Other stuff to pay for my things. But this was what I needed at the time was to connect with a community of people who wanted to try the same thing I wanted to try and the possibility to meet with audiences. Because the other thing is that you have other kind of similar organization and experiments in Italy, but not always you have the possibility to do that in front of an audience because maybe there is no people interested in that. Maybe you go to theaters, maybe you pay for venues to do your show and there is five people in front of you and probably you know those people. So that is not something that help. It's not something that helps you getting experience and trying to bring your research forward. If you go with in front of people you don't know and they can also vote you. So maybe you do something that they don't like it, you can think they didn't understand it, or you can think I did something wrong. But anyway, you tried it. You go home and you ask yourself, well, could I do this anyway different, Could I try and write a new one? Anyway, tomorrow I will do it again. [00:18:26] Speaker C: And so this is, this is so heartening to me because that is a real reason why things happen. Because you were talking earlier that you wanted to go in a theater, but it was more of a closed off society. Well, poetry when I started was a closed off society. You couldn't get an audience, you know, unless you're in with the established group. And that's what we did. We opened it up so we have an audience to go to. And you talking about doing something and not working and going home and rethinking it. God, that's the essence of it. And to be around having an audience where you can try stuff out is one of the principles of what we did at the beginning. It's so good to hear this and that it's still going on. Italy, you know, we kind of lost a little bit of that in the States. Yeah. [00:19:23] Speaker D: And I will add something, another important part. You go to a poetry Islam, you do your two poems, but the rest of the time you will listen to others. So there's also that I learned more about poetry listening to people who did that for a longer time than in school. And then I went back to my, to my school books to try to understand more about what I didn't study. So. And. But it's also a place or an environment where, where you can maybe you hear 20 poems and they don't say anything to you or they feel kind of all the same, but the 21. [00:20:00] Speaker A: So you listen to 19 bad poems. That's your very. [00:20:03] Speaker D: And then. And then you. And then you get to the 20s, and maybe they are not bad poems. Maybe they are not good for you. [00:20:10] Speaker A: But they're very kind. [00:20:11] Speaker D: But the 20th, it's the one you were looking for. [00:20:14] Speaker A: That's the inspiration I want to get to the World Cup. And then also your theater and why you're here. But before we leave your own kind of studies, do you see? I mean, you kind of presented a case that you were forced. Like, I'm as old man now myself, kids. I'm like, oh, good, dad. Telling them to go study physics. That was very smart of him. [00:20:32] Speaker D: Yeah. Thank you, dad. [00:20:33] Speaker A: Yeah, thank you, dad. Well done. But do you see a connection between physics and science and the arts and poetry? Physics and poetry, yes. [00:20:41] Speaker D: And I could talk about this for hours. So I will try to sum up in these. First of all, I feel that all over the world there is a big division culturally. So the last century built a division between humanistic culture and scientific culture. And anybody who tries to put that together, if they're good at doing that, they are felt like, you're a genius. Carl Sagan, you are a genius. You are. He was a genius. But also, I think that's stupid, the. The wall between the two, because scientific culture is just another part of culture. And it is. And it is fundamental for us to be able to connect society with all the kind of cultures that we have, because that is, at the end of the day, is just the human path towards understanding the world we live in from a humanistic point of view or a scientific point of view. But it's just. There's not one more correct than the other. It's just different tools to try to understand why the fuck we are here. [00:21:49] Speaker A: Okay, so the world is flat. Is that what you're. [00:21:52] Speaker D: Yes, the earth is flat. That is. That is true. [00:21:55] Speaker A: It's not 59 and 61 like each other. [00:21:58] Speaker D: Yes. And the other thing I would say is that for me, you don't know how many times in physics class in university, you hear the professor using words such as elegant, beautiful, balanced. The same words that we use in poetry. Two, actually. I think so. The aesthetic of a formula is very similar, I think, to the aesthetic of a poem. You want to find a line of very few symbols which are able to express as much universality as you can get. And isn't that the perfect verse? [00:22:37] Speaker C: Yes. Beautiful. [00:22:39] Speaker D: Yes. So I think these are the main connections. [00:22:41] Speaker C: So you've found this lamb. You started doing it Covid comes along, but then you go back to doing it. What was the path to winning the World Cup? How did that come about? [00:22:54] Speaker D: Okay, 2022, I stopped studying and I started doing as much as many poetry slams as I could. And at the end of September 2022, I was ready to go back to the university. I said, okay, I found my way. I'm much happier. I can finish my study and then I will do something between physics and performance poetry, I don't know. I don't know, but I'll go back to University. But in 2020, in September 2022, I won the National Italian in Florence. And so I told myself, okay, let give it two or three months to see what will happen when you win the national. And then we had the European cup in Rome, and that was a. That was my first international experience. [00:23:39] Speaker A: The Pope is from Chicago, you know. [00:23:40] Speaker D: Yes, the Pope is from Chicago. [00:23:42] Speaker A: I heard Rome and I heard. I just had to get that. I'm sorry. Dalton, Illinois. [00:23:47] Speaker D: Yeah, he's a Pope. He's from Chicago. And is he a good poet, do you think? I don't know. [00:23:53] Speaker A: We'll find out, I guess. I'm sorry. So you're in Rome. [00:23:58] Speaker D: So in Rome, we had the European cup, and it was my first international experience. But actually, in order for. So in Rome, I qualified for the WPSO World Cup World Championships, actually, in Rio de Janeiro. And the World cup of Poetry Slam by Pilon Leo in Paris is something else. I qualified for that just from winning the nationals. I went on May 2023 to Paris, and I won the World Cup. So that's basically the path. I won the nationals, then I went there, and I won the Paris World cup, and then I went to the WPSO World cup in Rio de Janeiro. So I did two World cup in a year. One I won it, and the other one, I was eliminated at the first round. And that, I think, is one of the core. No, it's one of the core of poetry slams. [00:24:54] Speaker C: Yes. [00:24:54] Speaker D: So that. That gives you the idea of. [00:24:56] Speaker C: Filippo, you really understand stuff. No, that is wonderful that you can be. You can be the champ in one place and then you can be knocked down. And it's. That's great. [00:25:08] Speaker D: Yeah. And you. And that gives you the idea of the value of the title World Poetry Slam Champion. Yeah. You know, it sells tickets when it's about shows, but at the end of the day, it was just a path, an experience. And. [00:25:26] Speaker C: Certainly part of that. This is my contention, you know that because I'm not an advocate of the competition anymore at all, because people took it too seriously. And. But in the early years, even though it's goofy and it's very subjective, there's something about being in that competitive thing and trying your hardest and doing good that inspires you to move on. And is that your case? I mean, because you are now successful in what you wanted in the first place, into the theater. Do you think that winning that cup or participating in that competition helped you to have the courage or the. The energy to move on to do these other things? [00:26:10] Speaker D: From a practical point of view, that changed everything. So winning those things were the moments where I could build a career out of this, because other environments said, okay, we are not interested in. We are not interested in poetry slam, but you won a world cup, so now you must be interesting in some way. So I've been explaining to newspapers or any kind of. Any kind of thing what is poetry slam? Because they interview me and then they say, okay, explain us. What is this thing you want something about? So, so and so the in and from that kind of interest, I could build my nowadays job. But I think that the. There is a slight difference between. You go to a poetry slam to win the poetry slam, and you do anything to win the poetry slam, Even write things that you don't think about or, or try to. I don't know, you. You choose a path that is not yours because it will get you to win a poetry slam. [00:27:23] Speaker A: Ah, there's several poets that come to mind. [00:27:25] Speaker D: Instead. For me, it was. And. And I was. Okay, I would. I would say all the things that I'm saying are very cheeky. And maybe you will think on the other side of this microphone, always just telling this because it's the right things to say. I don't know. I think that for me, it was. I had an idea of what I wanted to do on stage, and it was about the connection with poetry and with theater and how to use your body on stage and the idea of telling stories in poems. And at the beginning, in the Italian environment, they told me this is not poetry. In the poetry slam environment, they told me, this is theater. You're doing cabaret, you're doing. And they told me you should do something else. But I had this idea. And also they told me, obviously you're winning stuff because you are doing theater and you're not doing poetry. But I had my idea of what I wanted to present on stage, and I tried to learn my craft and doing different stuff. And when that won poetry slams, I had an artistic. I was building an artistic identity that didn't need the winning of poetry slam to exist. So then I went on doing shows and doing other stuff. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Are you. Are you writing your theater pieces at the same time? [00:28:42] Speaker D: Yes. [00:28:43] Speaker A: You're here now because you're in the States, because you have a play. [00:28:46] Speaker D: Yes. [00:28:47] Speaker A: And this is, like, directly connected to the poetry? [00:28:49] Speaker D: Yes. Yes. [00:28:51] Speaker A: Do you want to talk about your play? And in Washington, you were at the. At the consulate or Italian embassy? Okay. [00:28:57] Speaker D: In Washington, I did a play for the Italian embassy. [00:29:00] Speaker A: What's the title of the play and what's it about? [00:29:01] Speaker D: My mama notarizes and also makes risotto. Miyamama FAI notaio manchel risotto. And it's the play about. The plays about a kid that isn't able to talk with his mother. So he's instead raised by his library, which is called Bibli. So he talks with his library. And at the end of the day, thanks to poetry, the kid who is called Little Bug and the mom find a way to talk to each other. So it's about finding a way to communicate with other people. I don't know what it is about. I don't know what it is about. This is the story. Come and see the play. And it's very connected to poetry slam because the beginning of this play was sometimes some people after a poetry slam ask me, oh, this is good. Do you have a show? And I said, yes. And I didn't. The day after, I called my friend and we said, okay, go pro with this. [00:29:57] Speaker A: Yeah. You're not turning anything down, and you're saying yes to everything. [00:30:00] Speaker C: People listening to this. Filippo's aesthetic about all this is so close, so connected to the roots of what we were doing at the beginning. And to my heart, it's just, you know, just makes me feel so wonderful. I mean, you without ever knowing each other. [00:30:16] Speaker D: Yeah. This is the first time. [00:30:17] Speaker C: This is the first time I saw pictures of you. But you express so many of the things that are dear to me about the slam. And it's a joy that you understand what. And that it's still going on because we've lost a lot of that. It became too many people saying what it's supposed to be when. And it's not that, you know, it's. I don't. I'm not making much sense. I'm emotional right now. [00:30:41] Speaker A: No, he just reminds me of, you know, when we. We interviewed Sin Silach on our podcast. And there is very much, I think. [00:30:49] Speaker C: By the way, was one of the early Women in Chicago that were part of this. [00:30:55] Speaker A: The origins of the poetry slam that we've uncovered on the podcast are when you're doing Citrus Chatter and you're in costume in bars, when you're blocking out different sections, when you have the swordsman up or when you have the Tony Fitzpatrick got his art up on your. On your screen, or there's different types of music, there's a plurality to your aesthetic that it sounds like Italy is connected to inherently in ways. [00:31:22] Speaker C: Filippo, Very definitely so open. So open that instead of people allowing people tell you, oh, no, well, that's not. You're not supposed to do that. Hell with you. [00:31:32] Speaker A: Yeah, but that's what the US does. We chop something up until little pieces, until we can't chop it up anymore. Then you throw it out, and then you start over again. [00:31:40] Speaker D: I want to say. I want to add something. You have people who sticks with their idea, and their idea doesn't win poetry slams, but they stick with their idea. And sometimes that is the most precious thing, because maybe you see five people on stage who are doing the same thing and they're clashing to win the poetry Islam. And then you have the sixth one who's not winning, but is the one you want to talk after. [00:32:02] Speaker A: You're going to show everything. Mark. [00:32:09] Speaker C: You should get a bell when he hits. Yeah. [00:32:11] Speaker D: Bingo. [00:32:12] Speaker C: You. You did it. [00:32:13] Speaker A: You're performing at the Green Mill Jazz Lounge in uptown Chicago tomorrow. [00:32:16] Speaker D: Tomorrow, yes. And I will perform in Italian, and I don't know what people will. [00:32:21] Speaker A: You're going to find out. [00:32:22] Speaker D: I'll try, but. [00:32:24] Speaker A: So you came first to Washington. [00:32:26] Speaker D: Washington, then New York City for this Italian theatre festival called In Cena. And he was. No. And this festival called me in the first place to say. To tell me we would like your play in New York. [00:32:39] Speaker A: And how's the play going? [00:32:41] Speaker D: Oh, it went well. Yes. It was translated. I played some parts in English and some parts. The poetry slam part, the poetic part in Italian with super titles. And the public had a good. The audience had a good response, and we'll see how it goes. [00:32:59] Speaker A: When you're. How long does it run? [00:33:00] Speaker D: 50 minutes. [00:33:01] Speaker A: And when the 50 minutes are over, do people yell 10 or negative 1 or 5? [00:33:06] Speaker D: No, they didn't, because you don't have that in theater. And. [00:33:09] Speaker A: But the people, they let you know what they think. [00:33:12] Speaker D: Yes, yes. And so I'm very happy about the. How the play went and also about the experience. So I've been in the states for 20 days. It was my first time here, and it's a really interesting country. I tried to learn. [00:33:26] Speaker A: My father said when people use the word interesting, it's not usually positive. [00:33:30] Speaker D: It's an interesting. It's an interesting. [00:33:31] Speaker A: So we're going to try a great experiment here, I think, with you and Mark, I believe one of. [00:33:37] Speaker C: What? [00:33:38] Speaker A: What do you mean what? [00:33:39] Speaker D: You. [00:33:39] Speaker A: Are we reading a poem or. [00:33:41] Speaker C: He's gonna read a poem. He asked me to edit it and I edit the English version of it. [00:33:47] Speaker A: I thought he was going to read Italian and then you're going to read English and please. [00:33:51] Speaker D: Okay, so Mark is changing my translations of the poem and I think, please, please do that, please do that, because I translated it myself. [00:33:59] Speaker A: So this word in this third line just ain't gonna play here in the States. Maybe over in Italy that stuff flies, but not here. [00:34:08] Speaker D: So you will have the time of the poem to change your translation. [00:34:13] Speaker C: Okay? Okay. [00:34:14] Speaker D: Okay. So I'm Filipo Cajobianco. This is Dedica sulomia Lauria. Dedication for my thesis. And the actual dedication on my bachelor thesis was to my father. Amio padre cuando guarderaila tua casa seduto sulalta pietra brulla che domina la pianura divorata da le fiamme libere di uninchendio boschivo. So now I will have this Lem Papi himself. [00:36:57] Speaker C: This is a first. [00:36:58] Speaker A: This is a first. This is a great poem. [00:37:00] Speaker C: This is a wonderful poem. And it's only a few, I hope. I got the sense that I only took a few words out of there declaration from my thesis. [00:37:16] Speaker B: When you look at your home, seated on the high barren stone that towers over the plain devoured by the wild flames of a forest fire and savor the spectacle drinking beer from glass bottles, remember my name, think of me in every hurricane that will ravage the coasts, lifting the earth like magna to make it living flesh, Celebrating the salt water together with the wind. The birth of a new era, one that will erase time of their captivity. In harbors and white sails run my syllables over your lips, Father, and pray for I will be in the atmosphere tearing open like the gates of hell. And I will love you with a wild love that mirrors the sun. I will enter your cities like an ocean, and devouring them will only partly quench my thirst. Because this, you see, is what it means to be a tide. And when India collapses under the weight of its own body, and you see flowers open in the embrace of a young spring that will never come, when the Arctic becomes a memory and all the lands take their final breath and at last return to the sea, know that I willed it with all my strength, that this was burning behind every one of my actions. That it would take the whole of nature for you to understand the depth of my rage. Maybe then, amid the tired reflections of the lit dew of a new morning, maybe then I will find a way to reach you on our stone and sit beside you and before the scars of our war, say to you simply forgiveness. [00:39:32] Speaker C: Very beautiful poem. [00:39:33] Speaker D: Thank you. And it was. It was. Thank you. It was a great emotion and to have a poem, but even with all. [00:39:45] Speaker C: The edit, the mistakes they've edited. [00:39:47] Speaker B: I'll leave you this. [00:39:48] Speaker D: I leave. This is yours. So you can. Okay. Thank you very much. [00:39:54] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:39:54] Speaker A: What a treat. This has been a wonderful episode. [00:39:56] Speaker C: Filippo, I gotta tell you that the. So much of the stuff you said is just so dear to me. [00:40:02] Speaker A: Inspiring. [00:40:03] Speaker C: And. And it's what this podcast is all about. You don't have to listen to me. Listen to Filippo. But you know, the Italian poets, Domi lay low. They've always, you know, there's been the fighting of what people think, what slam is supposed to be, but the. The people that have really made it work over there are people that are close to me and understand. And it's so good to hear that it goes on the way it. You know, from the beginning, I've always wanted to be a stay as a grassroots situation, a community situation. [00:40:45] Speaker A: Well, I think you succeeded, Mark. We're sitting with your success. No, it's good stuff. It's good stuff. Filippo, thank you so much and thanks for being here. This has been a wonderful show for me just to get to meet you and to listen. [00:40:59] Speaker D: So thank you. Bye. [00:41:01] Speaker E: You've been listening to through the Mill, our podcast about the poetry slam. My name is Mark Eleveld. I'm the editor of the Spoken Word Revolution Books. Emily Calvo is here with us. She named the podcast. It's an anthology she's been working on since the early 90s. And we're here with Mark Kelly Smith, the founder of Poetry Slam. We're going to be bringing some podcasts and shows to you to hear the origin stories from a bunch of different poets and a bunch of different organizers. Our director Hugh's over there in the corner. I hope you had a good time and we'll talk to you soon.