When 26-year old Crito Di Volta is released after 10 years of psychiatric institutionalization, he develops and launches Mortarismo--a new socio-political, psycho-spiritual, artistic movement-- with the aim of deinstitutionalizing, and eventually reconnecting with, all of humanity. Called a work of genius
and a poem that exceeds Allen Ginsberg's Howl in both authenticity and intensity,
di Saverio's epic Crito Di Volta is a strong pronouncement on civil rights, religion and art; and a daring revolt against the platitudes of contemporary Western society.
Be in me as the brusque verity of a cadaver, and not as anything hazy:
an Afghan field of poppies for the unrequited lover.
Have me in the intensity of Christ on the cross, a second before he gave,
and not in the calm comfort of a lover in my arms.
Let us to the prisoners of war who'll hang themselves, and not to the easy
chit-chat of drunk inheritor-dandies …
Crito di Volta is a battle cry to break from our vaults, seize this time as ours, and steer our lives in a new direction with authentic, passionate poetry.
Margo LaPierre, Ottawa Review of Books
Crito Di Volta is the astonishing prophecy of a turn in our direction, from present-day triviality and self-contempt to a new life of imaginative joy and the superb energy of peace, the one true energy. Marc di Saverio has somehow brought forth a culture-creating epic which at the same time is the imaginative biography of the suffering outcast of our time, of his family, his loved ones, and the world he loves, and also of what threatens these loves: our blind yet wilful self-defeat. A prophecy, an epic, but also a novel in verse (and prose! and pictures!), a gallery of portraits, a fountain of images. A powerful unity of purpose within a harmonized kaleidoscope of new forms, both free and structured. A completely original mastery of the art of poetry. A work of genius.
A.F. Moritz
On every page of Crito Di Volta, Marc di Saverio stands in the everlasting
emergency present
and sings with deep, authentic intensity and poetic force “the melody-lines of people’s veins”—and in so doing offers up an electrical, irrefutable masterpiece.
Russell Thornton
A hugely important and insightful work—an epic of our time, that has astute social import, as well as so much raw passion and emotion.
Nicole Grimaldi