Ottone M. Riccio

Ottone M. Riccio, age 90, of Duxbury, better known as "Ricky", passed away peacefully on September 23, 2011 at the Weymouth Health Care Center in Weymouth. He is survived by his loving wife Dolores Stewart Riccio of Duxbury MA, his step-daughter Lucy-Marie Sanel of Plymouth MA, his sister Anna Riccio Morin of Florence MA, and six nieces and nephews. He will also be remembered warmly by the many devoted students he considered his "family". Ottone had many careers: he played alto sax and clarinet for the Ray Bellaire band in Providence RI, in the big band era. During WWII, he served as a corporal and radioman with the 18th Fighter Control Squadron in the Pacific Theater. After the war, he became Circulation and Acquisitions Librarian for the Air Force's Geophysical Research Library at Hanscom Field in Bedford MA. During the late 60's and 70's, he then left the library to pursue his own writing interests and to publish a literary magazine "Pyramid". By the end of the 70's, he had become a teacher of creative writing, a role he enjoyed fully and for which he will be especially remembered. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, a novel, and two influential texts on writing poetry.

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A WORD ON PROSE POETRY



I find that often the distinction between prose poetry and prose is doubtful and blurred. Presenting a paragraph of prose and designating it prose poetry does not do it. A prose poem must include the aspects of poetry if we are to regard it as a poem. The difficulty is compounded many times by placing the emphasis on the subject matter of the piece at the expense of other poetry considerations. We must return to the habit of concentrating as well on how the language turns it into a poem. There must be not only poetic expression; the pacing and rhythms (think of the various rhythms of music and of music styles) of the poems should be peculiar to that poem and relevant to its subject matter.

A momentum has to be established that carries the reader’s mind along with the words and intonations as the poem is read or heard—almost threatening the reader or listener to lose balance…Images and sounds should be employed as they would be in traditional poems. The feelings of real poetry must persist throughout the piece.



From On Pain of Discovery, 1968

Fiesta


have you ever tasted blue

hungered for sky

to be caught in your arms?



who built this upside-down-Atlantis

flooded with cloudy continents?

have you ever tasted white

royally dined with wine the color of forgotten grapes?



I’ll trade my hundred years for your rainbow tongue



stripe me a symphony

swirl a rondelet



I’m with a husband’s mistress who spits out seeds

from sunspiced berries



but have you ever tasted blue

carved a piece of sky

to heap your table

with angels’ silk

and flashed your fingers through the web

to reach the fluid color running high



and have you eaten sky

to know the taste of blue?



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Makeshift Rationale first published in The Beloit Poetry Journal


the piece of string

lies snaked on the floor

like an afterthought

from our seat

on top of the bookcase

we stare intently

the string moves

you look at me and touch the side of your head

too much concentration you say I’m seeing things

I thought the string moved but it’s still in the same place

I say nothing

you wouldn’t believe it

and I don’t want to upset you

I shift my position

shaking the bookcase a little

the string still stretches casually

on the patterned carpet

giving slight shivers

as it flows along

the length of itself

I look to see if you’ve you’re looking at the doorknob

and smiling to yourself

leaning toward my ear

you whisper

be very quiet \

the doorknob is turning


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