Two Poems

The tensions present within the works of Mario Sampaolesi stem from the conflicted relationship with reality that powers poetry itself, an electrical charge created by a constant flitting between engagement, detachment and total abstraction. The 'real' is represented by a mountain or an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean; it appears in the snow and animals that are present within the mountain landscape, the geology and sea life of the Malvinas present and the war of Falklands past. But mostly it appears refracted through the distorting consciousnesses of the two men who wander through these terrains, two men so outside of the 'real' that their presence is never more than that of ghosts or destructive trespassers.