What Sex Is Death?

Dario Bellezza--Italy’s first openly gay, major prize winning poet-novelist-playwright--was a bold, daring writer who energetically explored love, sexual transformation, and death. Bellezza embraced a variety of forms, from unabashed love-lyric to political narrative, and the fervor of his voice makes a compelling argument for his lasting importance as one of the most remarkable poets of the late twentieth century. Yet, until now, his work has never been available in English. Award-winning translator Peter Covino offers a wide-ranging selection of representative poetry from Bellezza’s career. Influenced by Rimbaud, the Beats, and the growing European gay rights movements, his poetry remains innovative and timely. Ranging from stray cats in the graveyards of Rome, to the literal and metaphoric fallout from the Chernobyl disaster, to the joys and disappointments of random hookups, Bellezza’s dazzling visions will sparkle in readers’ eyes like sunspots long after they complete this magnificent volume.

Dario Bellezza (1944-96) was one of Italy’s most significant and prolific poets, authors, and playwrights. He published more than twenty books, including eight full-length poetry collections, over the course of twenty-five years, and embraced his identity as an out gay man in an era of increased polemicizing of gay rights and harsh opposition by the Vatican.

Peter Covino is an award-winning translator, editor, and poet. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Rhode Island, the founding editor and faculty advisor of the Ocean State Review, and a founding editor-trustee of the nonprofit press Barrow Street Inc.