LIDIA CHIARELLI INTERVIEW

 

NILVRONILL SHOOVRO 

Talking With

Poet Of The Month

LIDIA CHIARELLI

NILAVRONILL: Welcome dear poet to Our Poetry Archive. Every month we feature one poet as ‘Poet of the month”. And usually, we take an interview of the featured poet, to introduce an overall true picture of the poet to our reader. Tell us about the growing phase of your life as a writer. Did you suddenly discover your passion for writing or it evolved gradually?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: First of all, let me thank NilavroNill Shoovro for this opportunity. My first encounter with writing was back in the early '70s, when I went to London for an English summer course for foreign students. One of the teachers suggested a small poetry competition: we had to improvise some poetic verses, and my poem "Rhythm of Life" was ranked among the best. This was just a start: from there, my passion—especially for poetry and short stories—gradually developed. The turning point was my meeting with the English writer Aeronwy Thomas, daughter of the great poet Dylan Thomas, with whom I founded the art-literary movement Immagine & Poesia (Image & Poetry) in 2007. As a teacher myself, I taught creative writing courses. In my workshops I led my students to transform their emotions into short poems and - with the help of an art teacher - even into images.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think, your social and cultural backgrounds played a pivotal role and helped you much to become a writer. 

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: Yes, the social and cultural backgrounds played a fundamental and indispensable role in forming my identity, style and worldview as a writer. I think that this invisible baggage acted as a lens through which I saw reality and shaped my own stories and poems.

 

NILAVRONILL: What are the factors that inspire you to write and how do you relate yourself to the ground realities surrounding you.  

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: My first poems were inspired by nature in all its aspects, wild and beautiful, but also by urban views, the same images, the same perspectives that had attracted the attention of Allen Ginsberg. His poem Supermarket in California has appealed to me since the very first time I read it. I have always written after experiencing a real emotion, according to William Wordsworth’s definition "Poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility.”

After founding Immagine & Poesia, Poetry and Visual Art nowadays proceed on parallel tracks for me. Today I mainly try to put into practice the principle enunciated by Aeronwy Thomas: "Artists and poets can experience moments of cross-fertilization". I often look for inspiration in the images of fine art photos or of paintings created by other artists or vice-versa:  sometimes the words of poets lead me to put on canvas the emotions they have called forth in me.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think in-depth knowledge on a particular language is essential to become a great poet? And what about the language of poetry? Isn’t it something quite different from any native language?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: A deep knowledge of a language is vital to great poetry, and the language of poetry transforms ordinary speech into a concentrated, musical, image-driven realm. It is not a completely separate language, but rather everyday words pushed to their absolute limits. And how does all this happen? In poetry, the way a word sounds and appears on the page matters just as much as its direct dictionary definition. Instead of explaining an idea at length, poetry packs maximum meaning into a little space. Poets often bend standard grammar, invent new combinations, or use deliberate silences to evoke feelings that ordinary prose cannot achieve.

 

NILAVRONILL: Is emotional detachment a necessity in writing poems for a poet, to excel in literary works? We would like to know your thoughts, as your personal experience.

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: I think that emotional detachment is not a strict necessity for a poet to excel, as great writing often comes from deep feeling and vivid memory. Many famous poets use intense emotion instead of distance to make their work powerful and true. Emotion matters in Poetry. Strong feelings help readers feel the poem in their own hearts. Some of the most significant poems I have written were inspired by my deep affection and admiration for my father Guido Chiarelli , a pioneer in public lighting systems in Turin. I wanted to write these poems so that his name would not be forgotten.

 

NILAVRONILL: Many poets believe, sense and sensibility are the two most important aspects of poetry in general. As a poet what do you think?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: T.S. Eliot argued that great poetry requires a "unification of sensibility"—the seamless blending of thought and feeling. Sense (reason) and sensibility (emotion) are both vital to literature, famously explored as a balance of head and heart. Critics say that Sense (Intellect) provides structure, logic, irony, and philosophical depth, while Sensibility (Emotion) drives imagery, empathy, and a deep, visceral response to beauty and suffering. Generally speaking, masterful poems do not separate thinking from feeling; they make intellectual ideas into an emotional experience.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you think the primary obligation of a poet should be to communicate with the temporal as well as with the eternal essence of life and the universe? If so, how can one fulfil that particular obligation?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: Yes, a poet should communicate with both the temporal and eternal essence of life, achieving this through the use of sensory details, emotional truth, and deep reflection. How specifically can poets fulfill this obligation? Poets can observe closely, watch the world with care, noticing small details in nature and daily human actions. Then they should reflect deeply, think about why things matter and how life links to the past and the future. They will have to choose words wisely, pick clear, sharp language that carries both a direct meaning and a deeper feeling.

 

NILAVRONILL: No literature can survive without communicating with different languages and cultures, as well as various traditions and heritages. I would like to know your opinion regarding the growth and evolution of the literature of your motherland.

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: Literature grows and changes when it shares ideas with other languages, cultures, and traditions. Italian literature evolved through continuous cross-cultural exchanges, absorbing French and Provençal medieval forms, shaping European Renaissance humanism, and later engaging with Enlightenment and modern international currents like Naturalism and Futurism.

 

NILAVRONILL: Do you believe conflicts and confusions immensely help a writer to grow as a poet? Or do you think it does actually the opposite?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: Conflicts and confusions can help a poet to grow by deepening emotions, forcing fresh perspectives, and sparking creative tension, but they can also cause burnout if left unmanaged.

 

NILAVRONILL: How would you evaluate your contemporaries and what are your expectations from the younger generation?

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: Contemporary poetry has shifted toward raw accessibility, digital democratization, and free-form emotional expression. Younger generations are led to multi-media integration rather than rigid adherence to classical meter and form.

 

NILAVRONILL: Thank you, so much dear poet, we hope our readers would also enjoy your interview much to their likings.

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI: It’s on me to thank you dear Editor.  OPA is a tool for building bridges and breaking down barriers. It brings together poets of different nationalities and backgrounds. I do hope OPA will continue its commitment to spreading culture and genuine friendship among peoples for many years to come.

 

 

 

LIDIA CHIARELLI (Torino - Italy) is one of the Charter Members of  Immagine & Poesia, the art literary Movement founded in Torino (Italy) in 2007 with Aeronwy Thomas, Dylan Thomas’ daughter. Installation artist and collagist. Coordinator of #DylanDay in Italy. She has become an award-winning poet since 2011. Six Pushcart Nominations (USA). In 2022 one of her poems was engraved on a clay tile and installed in the town of Montanaro (Turin). First Prize “the Best Poets & Translators”, China 2023. In Montecarlo (Monaco) she won the Second Prize at “Le Parole della Vita” Poetry Contest 2024. Her writing has been translated into different languages and published in more than 150 Poetry magazines, and on web-sites in many countries.