My Father Gave Me His Name
My father gave me his name
I am stuck with it
if I move it really hurts
a body still afloat
if I open my mouth I feel like spinning blood—
will the birds come back
will you start breathing again
if today’s light falls on the page
I might go on with the pain
he left little box where love and hate
made their nest sometimes the rain
washes off a letter or two sometimes I see the clouds
I hear a voice
neither his nor mine
coming at dusk
from an empty grave
ISBN 1-59661-040-9
27 pages/$9
…metaphysical thought, molecules drowning in stars; these poems are strong, mysterious, cryptic, surreal, ethereal, dangerous, bursting with authority, operating at a ghostly spiritual intuitive level; narrative imbedded in an abstract universe that sometimes reconfigures time.
—David Dodd Lee
In dark, often powerful images, Stella Radulescu offers a rich experience to those who pay attention to her poetry. Stark and intense in her performance, these poems cut to the bone and blood, yet provide release and respite. On stage, she is an insistent voice that deserves to be heard, and on the page that voice continues to resonate.
—Dr. Richard Prince, Professor of English, Lewis University and long-time resident at the Green Mill, Chicago
Stella Vinitchi Radulescu was born in Romania where she received a Ph.D. in French and began her literary career. At present, she is a lecturer in French at Northwestern University. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of literary magazines in Romania and here in the U.S., including Seneca Review, California Quarterly, Plainsongs Review, Visions International, Chiron Review, Spout Magazine, and Sulphur River Review. She is the author of three collections of poetry, My Dream Has Red Fingers (2000), From Heaven With Love (2003), and Self Portrait in Blue (2004). A volume of her poetry was also published recently in Romania by Eminescu Publishing House.