Poetry and the Lake

LATEST NEWS : Celebration and Awards 10-12 October 2008 NEW WEBSITE : www.poetryonthelake.org INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 2008 closing 12th May Time marches on - if you can't post entries to be postmarked at the latest 12th May, please email poems by midnight 12th May and send hard-copies on ASAP judges: Jo Shapcott, Penelope Shuttle, Michael Swan * The first Poetry on the Lake Festival, created and organised by Gabriel Griffin, was in 2001. An annual spring competition with autumn awards and festival programme,has been enriched , over the years, with other readings and events. Writers and poets who have once come to Orta, return, having found an ideal place for writing, relaxing, exchanging ideas and drawing inspiration. Lake Orta is a glacial lake in the Alpine foothills of north Italy. A thousand feet above sea-level, it is enclosed by mountains and high hills rich in chestnuts, birch and, thanks to its micro-climate, palms. Tiny medieval villages stud the banks and St Giulio’ Isle floats in front of the pretty little town of Orta. The flagged square of Orta, walled on three sides by frescoed houses and porticos and with its cafe tables outside in the sun all year round, opens on the west side to the lake. Boats ply back and forth to the island from the jetty flanked by colourful flower beds and shady trees. On the island a monastery of enclosed Benedictine nuns has substituted the dark ages castle, a place of sieges and executions. Even earlier “there were dragons” but sixteen hundred years ago St Julius arrived from Greece, floated over to the island on his mantle, and cast out the dragons. His bones, finely robed, can be seen still in the crypt of the old basilica on the island and it is told that the thaumaturgic saint still performs miracles. William of Volpiano, the great abbot and founder of monasteries, was born on the island during the seige of 962, which found Willa, the Italian Queen, on the island with all her kingdom’s treasure, attempting to resist the Emperor Otto the Great. She lost. What happened to the treasure is a mystery. Now, to see the island veiled in mist and hear the clear ringing of bells summon the nuns to prayer from their cloistered gardens scented with wysteria and roses, the clamours and bloodshed are far away. Music floats over the waters from the Villa Tallone, gregorian chant from the basilica. Above Orta the antique woods of Sacro Monte with the little chapels scattered under the limes, the beeches and the camphor, remind us that here Nietzsche lost his heart to Lou Salomé. Literary references to Orta are many: besides Thus Spake Zarathustra, dated von Orta an, the lake has inspired, among others, Robert Browning, George Meredith, Honoré de Balzac, Eugenio Montale, and now, with the Poetry on the Lake events, brings contemporary poets to its shores. For here is an enchanted world, and a myriad of stories are reflected in the shimmering waters. And in autumn 2007 Poetry on the Lake went to the enchanting Sacro Monte of Varallo, the first and the finest of the Sacro Monti. A magical landscape of densely wooded mountains, the silver ribbon of the Sesia ribbon far below winding through the valley - "the greenest valley in Italy". 44 chapels - rich in art and sculptures - recount the life and miracles of Christ, while, in the valley, pagan altars are witness to the antiquity of this sacred area. * Gabriel Griffin email : poetryonthelake@yahoo.co.uk Poetry on the Lake is a non-profit making venture (alas!) New site