TO DIE LIKE A POEM. THE BALLAD OF A SOLDIER-BARD IN TIMES OF WAR

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Ekstasis, Victoria, BC, May 2025

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"The best way to die is as if we were a poem, which always leaves something behind in the reader. To die like a poem, then, is to die with grace, even if one has had to take up arms."

 

Summary

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This work explores the enduring nature of love in times of conflict through a series of untitled, short poems. When read in sequence, these poems weave a narrative leading to a dramatic, revelatory epilogue. The “Ballad” is conceived as a breviary—an intimate “little red book” that both a soldier and a pacifist could carry in their backpack. The micro-poems are designed to be memorized, recited, sung, and shared. At the heart of this tale are a jazz musician and the women who have loved him, each leaving an indelible mark on his life and his way of living for—and through—music.

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What the critics say

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“There is so much here to like. Inspired by the realm of music, the words have an ecstatic ring to them… Here the words are singing much of the time and I allowed myself to accept lines such as ‘chasing her smile / under the green keel.’ Given Arianna seems to be inspired by music and oceans... the reader is happy to be pulled into the swim of it all.” – Alan Twigg, BC BookWorld

 

“The poems in Arianna’s ballad are beautiful, moving, and immediate, speaking as

something so clearly specific and personal, yet also feeling so accessible, relatable.

And all the use of evocative adjectives, the rhythm, sensuality, and unrelenting musical nature throughout. It is certainly poetry that wants to be read aloud” – Jennifer Dale, actress

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“Tormented love, raw and diminished. Love pursued and sought after, impossible love, lost love. A “she” who embodies many women—mysterious and manifold—like the landscapes of an outer and inner journey, the inevitability of change, even when desired, and the yearning to recover a sense of connection, a less fragmented self. At times, the poems are  hermetic, which is rare in love poetry. Yet this very quality saves them from the banality into which much love poetry often falls.” – Antonella Pratali, writer​​

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