Poetry 1, Latte 0Mounting evidence that poetry is set to usurp the latte's seat of power in the hearts and minds of the populace.
Read the article below to see the lengths to which one rabid poetry fan will go for his verse fix. Italy--not only the land of espresso and the home of Dante, but now the birthplace of the world's first honest to god poetry shootout. Dear readers, we ask you: would anyone attempt murder for the sake of a milk diluted shot of caffeine?
Actor Roberto Benigni's poem on love and the afterlife interrupted by shots
Aug 29, 2007
ROME (AP) — Roberto Benigni was reciting a page from Dante's poem on love and the afterlife when he thought hell had come to Earth.
Shots rang out Tuesday night as the Oscar-winning actor and director was performing in a piazza in the southern Italian city of Cosenza, police said. Upon hearing the gunfire, Benigni said: "What, is hell here, too?" - then resumed his performance, the news agency ANSA said.
Police said a security guard had stopped a man who was trying to get into the show without a ticket. The man pulled out a gun and fired six shots, five of which hit the security guard in the legs, local police spokesman Angelo Cosentino told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday.
The guard was hospitalized but the injuries were not life-threatening, police said. A 45-year-old man with a police record for minor crimes was arrested for attempted murder.
Benigni said Wednesday he regretted the incident but at the same time thought it was poetic.
"The poetic greatness is that he did that just to hear Dante," ANSA quoted the actor as saying. "I'm sorry, and I feel for the kid's family, but he did it for poetry, and that's a great thing."
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
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Rattling Books--leading the poetry revolution since 2003.
ROME (AP) — Roberto Benigni was reciting a page from Dante's poem on love and the afterlife when he thought hell had come to Earth.
Shots rang out Tuesday night as the Oscar-winning actor and director was performing in a piazza in the southern Italian city of Cosenza, police said. Upon hearing the gunfire, Benigni said: "What, is hell here, too?" - then resumed his performance, the news agency ANSA said.
Police said a security guard had stopped a man who was trying to get into the show without a ticket. The man pulled out a gun and fired six shots, five of which hit the security guard in the legs, local police spokesman Angelo Cosentino told The Associated Press by telephone Wednesday.
The guard was hospitalized but the injuries were not life-threatening, police said. A 45-year-old man with a police record for minor crimes was arrested for attempted murder.
Benigni said Wednesday he regretted the incident but at the same time thought it was poetic.
"The poetic greatness is that he did that just to hear Dante," ANSA quoted the actor as saying. "I'm sorry, and I feel for the kid's family, but he did it for poetry, and that's a great thing."
To read the rest of this article, please click here.
*************
Rattling Books--leading the poetry revolution since 2003.
