Izabella Teresa Kostka was born in Poznań (Poland) and since 2001 has been living in Milan, naturalized Italian since 2010. She completed her university studies in classical piano; she is an artist, musician and piano teacher, currently an Italian-Polish writer and poet, freelance journalist, translator, author of prefaces to poetry books, organizer and presenter of cultural events. Founder and coordinator of the cyclical cultural program “Verseggiando sotto gli astri di Milano / Poetry under the stars of Milan”, editor and founder of the international cultural website “Verse – independent literary space”, editor and collaborator of the independent Italian journalistic website “Alessandria Today di Pier Carlo Lava” and collaborator of Polish cultural monthly “Bezkres / Infinity”. In 2023 she began collaborating with the emigration periodical “Letters from afar” published in Belgium. He has received numerous Italian literary awards (including three first places in three consecutive years at the Leandro Polverini published poetry competition in Anzio / Rome for the poetic collections “Le schegge” Irda Edizioni, “Gli espulsi dall’Eden” CTL Editore and “Ka_r_masutra ” Kimerik Edizioni), numerous critics’ awards and special awards for the profound humanitarian values contained in her poems as well as prestigious international awards (including in the USA), including important awards for her artistic and literary activity. In 2023 she won first place in the popular jury vote in the “Polish people Abroad. Edyta Felsztyńska Personality of the Year” competition. She has published ten books of poems in Italian: “Gli scatti” (2014), “Granelli di sabbia” (2014), “Caleidoscopio” (2015), “Peccati” (2015), “A spasso con la Chimera” (2015) , “Incompiuto” (2015), “Gli espulsi dall’Eden” (2016), “Schegge” (2017), “Si dissolvono le orme su qualsiasi terra” (Italian-Polish bilingual volume, 2017), “Ka_r_masutra” (2018 , officially presented at the Turin International Book Fair). Her texts in Italian are present in many prestigious anthologies, including “Twentieth century no more. Towards Terminal Realism” with a letter by Guido Oldani, “The secret of strawberries” (LietoColle), ” Proust’s Anthology” (La Recherche ), “The glass eye” (Mursia Editore), her poems appear on various websites and in numerous literary magazines in Italy, France, Poland, England, Argentina and the United States. Her verses in Polish have been published in numerous anthologies and important collective almanacs, as well as in literary blogs on the Internet, including on the website of the Kołobrzeg Writers’ Association and “Pisarze.pl / Writers.pl” in Warsaw. Some of her poems have been translated and published in English, Spanish and French. Guest of numerous radio and television broadcasts. Editor of numerous charitable and international anthologies (including the bilingual Italian-Polish anthologies “Poetic bridge”, Kimerik Edizioni; “Fragments of human reality – homage to Wisława Szymborska” for Tempra Edizioni; “Inter Amicos” vol.1° and vol. 2°, Dobrota editions), for years she has participated in the “Bookcity” literary symposium in Milan, at the International Poetry Festival in Milan, in contemporary art exhibitions as well as in the publishing fairs of Turin, Bologna, Bordighera, etc. She is the Ambassador of the Terminal Realism for Poland.
DIPTYCH ON FUEL
Politics?
It is a squalid slut
sold for a few euros,
a puppet hanging on the ropes
pulled by the gods of Olympus.
Engine damaged
powered by altered fuel.
THESE DAYS
These days of lead do not belong to us,
soluble charges of cyanide,
poisonous television debates
that ignore the bitter grievances of the people.
We are locked up in a supermarket
with shelves of illusions,
we collect points for retirement
counting on a prize at the end of the season.
Lightless dawns do not belong to us
obscured by the expensive smog
which takes away the voice of small birds
discarding their songs as waste.
Give us back our freedom
the fuel of life!
Prepared Angela Kosta Academic writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, journalist
