#445 Backstory of the Poem “Noto” by Susana H. Case, published in both Italian and English in International Poetry Review in April of 2025.
https://llc.uncg.edu/international-poetry-review/
ABOVE LEFT: Susana H. Case in Noto.
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form?
The architecture of Noto and its terrible history got me thinking about past and present, how tragedy can create beauty. Though I was in Noto many years after the personal events described in the poem, I wanted to play with time and so wrote it as if it were the present, even though almost everything in the poem is in fact historical. And yet the poem points to a different future—both for Noto and for me. When I was actually in Noto, I was not with the partner who appears in the poem, but with someone else entirely, but that is what imagination does.
https://www.italiantourmag.com/noto-sicilys-baroque-city-and-the-architecture-of-starting-over/
BELOW: “Shows usual earthquake damage, collapse of masonry structures and ground failures. May be meant to depict city of Catania which sustained the most damage. View is from south to north, i.e. eastern Sicily to the Strait of Messina in upper right corner. While Mt. Etna is shown erupting, there was actually only minor summit activity at the time of the earthquake. (Copper engraving, Germany, 1696)”
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in great detail.
I was in Sicily, not that far from Siracusa (photo, BELOW). Noto is a stunningly beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site with a lot of wonderful Baroque architecture. The old center is basically a planned city because in 1693 there was an earthquake that destroyed the entire city and so Noto was completely rebuilt on a lower site. The buildings are made of sandstone and there is a very lovely Cathedral there and also, there are ornate palaces.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1693_Sicily_earthquake
https://www.theworldofsicily.com/en/sights/sights-of-noto/cathedral-of-noto/
What was your experience in writing the poem in Italian?
Writing in another language is looking at the world in a different way. Look at what Jhumpa Lahiri has written about this when she decided to learn and then write in Italian. In some ways, it requires a whole other way of thinking. And then, because Italian is not my native language, it becomes difficult to assess if I’ve done a good job. The process involves navigating two very different poetic traditions. Italian poetry always seems to me more flowery and more abstract. The syntax is slightly different. I had to question whether each line preserved the tone I wanted when I was often thinking in English but writing in Italian.
https://paw.princeton.edu/article/professor-jhumpa-lahiri-reflects-translation-latest-book
https://www.facebook.com/JhumpaLahiriAuthor
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the final version? And can you share them with us?
The title was originally Upheaval/Sconvolgimento. It had both an Italian title and an English title because it was written in two languages. (I like practicing writing in two languages.) I later thought the actual place was a better name. The upheaval is described in the poem, so the reader doesn’t have to be told. I also changed the order of some lines. I eliminated “just six miles away” which described the rubble but which I decided wasn’t necessary. I originally had “when finally we’re asunder” following “After a few years” and that seemed unnecessary as well because it’s clear the poem is about a relationship that didn’t last. The content of the poem in both languages is essentially the same, with a few differences. “I’ll breathe relief” was (translated to English) “I’ll breathe like I have never breathed,” which I thought wasn’t quite right for the English version. There are a few enjambment differences.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem?
I would like it to stimulate thinking about the way it’s possible to write about personal matters using external events and entities. I wanted to start with a place but then enlarge the meaning of that place to accommodate emotion, to explore the parallels between a place’s history and a person’s history, the way when something doesn’t last, something else, something lovely, can spring from the ruins.
Which part of the poem was the most emotional of you to write and why?
I am always interested in how the past intrudes upon the present and how the present intrudes upon our imaginings of the future. This inspired “Noto.” Of course, writing about an early failed relationship is an emotional experience. We were not a good fit. Though I was in Noto (the actual place) years later, the parallels between what had happened historically in the town and what had happened to me were inescapable. (BELOW: Susana H Case in April of 2026)
https://www.facebook.com/susana.case
